Chasing Scarlet
by thatcoolguy17
Summary: After Erza Scarlet mysteriously leaves the Fairy Tail Guild, Natsu Dragneel is left in a disarray. He then embarks on a journey to find her leaving the rest of Team Natsu to go in search of him. Side Note, It's a Nerza/Natza fanfic.
1. Chapter 1: Gone?

"OI!" A pinkette man yelled out with a cat on his shoulder as he burst opened the doors of the Fairy Tail Guild. "I am back guys!"

Many people were seated when he bust the doors opened, others got up and greeted the boy who had finally come back from his long awaited mission. "Welcome back, fire brain!" A man with no shirt greeted.

"Welcome back Natsu and Happy." A blonde said as she was arranging her keys.

"Hey Gray-san!" The blue cat responded. "Hey Lucy-chan!"

A bulky, gray haired man then stood up and walked towards them. "How was your mission, eh? Natsu?" He asked.

"Ok I guess Elfman," Natsu scratched his head, trying to remember the details of his long mission. "I just had to save a noble man's daughter from a bunch of bandits that kidnapped her."

"NOW THAT'S WHAT YOU CALL A MAN!" Elfman then patted Natsu's back.

"You had to save a noble man's daughter?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah," Natsu then recovered from Elfman's strong pat to the back. "It wasn't that hard to be honest. Just a bunch of weak bandits just trying to make _easy _money by using ransom."

"How exactly did you find those bastards?" Gray, intrigued by Natsu's mission, asked him to continue.

"With this!" Happy pointed at Natsu's noise.

Elfman, Gray and Lucy all had the same dumbfound expression on their faces. "Exactly w-what?" Lucy asked.

"My nose!" Natsu said, a bit angry that they didn't seem to see the obvious.

"Oh that's right." Lucy apologized.

"Oh yeah, you got that great smelling on your side." Gray somewhat complimented.

"Anyways," Natsu looking around the Guild's main room. "Where's Erza?"

The room now filled with silence and many sad faces. "E-Erza?" Elfman stuttered, trying to muster up her name.

"Yeah, where is she?" Natsu asked once more.

"S-she… left the Guild, Natsu." Gray's words echoed in Natsu's head.

'W-what?" Shocked, Natsu couldn't believe what Gray just said.

"You heard me!" He retorted. "Erza left the guild!"

The silence still echoed around the room. "Y-you're lying!" He yelled at Gray. "She probably just left for a mission!"

Gray reached for his pocket, taking out a note. "Here, she left this note pinned with the rest of the jobs on the bulletin board." He said, giving the note to Natsu.

He took the note from his hands and read it in his head. _Dear Friends and Fellow Guild members, _the note began. _I'm sorry this is out of the blue but I'm leaving the Guild. There is too much on my mind right now, and I don't want to be a burden to anyone. Don't worry about me, I'll return in sometime but it'll probably be in many years. Please don't try to find me. Love, Erza_

Natsu couldn't believe what he read. Without hesitation, he ripped the papers and burned them.

"Natsu…" His feline companion lowly said.

"I couldn't believe it neither, Natsu," Lucy said trying to hold her own tears back. "S-she's gone!"

"A-are you ok Natsu?" Happy was trying to comfort best friend.

"…" No words came out.

"Do you need some space Natsu?" Lucy asked.

"Natsu?" Happy repeated his name.

"Yeah." Natsu responded.

Immediately, his feline companion got off his shoulder and went to Lucy. Natsu then swiftly had gone toward the Guild's doors and left solely to his house.

Upon walking, he heard the birds chirp from their nests up in the trees. His and Happy's lodge like house was located in the middle of the forest behind the Guild. He reached in for his key in his pocket, and inserted it in the lock. He turned it, unlocking the door and entering.

"…. DAMMIT ERZA!" Natsu yelled at the top of his lungs. He went around the house, tossing and destroying many of his own possessions which have been given by his dearest friend. "WHY? YOU BIG IDIOT!" He then stopped and dropped to his knees, succumbing to his own tears. "You didn't have to leave…" He whispered to himself.

He then got up, cleaned up his own mess. As he cleaned he noticed something unfamiliar to him, it was a red rose. "Huh?" Natsu walked up to the unusual anomaly. The rose was neatly placed on the middle of the dining table, in a vase. Under it was a sealed envelope. "What the?" He gently picked up the vase, taking out the note from the bottom.

Natsu nervously looked at the envelope. "Only a few people know that I live here…" He lowly said to himself, remembering which people those were. "Let's see… Happy of course… There's Lucy as well… Gray too… Master Makarov… Erza…" Natsu suddenly looked at the envelope one more time. "ERZA!"

He instantly opened it, revealing a note. "Let's see what it says…"

_Dear Natsu, _so it began. _I'm sorry that I left, you must be devastated. _"That's a bit of an understatement but whatever..." Natsu said to himself, he continued on. _I know how you are however, you will try to find me. Don't. I mean it. I don't want to face you… not yet anyways. _"_Not yet anyways_? What the heck is that supposed to mean?" He continued reading on. _This is my burden and mine alone, I've already lost a past loved one, I don't want to lose you too… I love you. You already know who this is._

_I love you…_ The last words Natsu read in his mind. "All this time…" He smiled. "I've always felt the same way you know?" He folded the note and put it in his pocket. "Sorry Erza but I'm going to have to disobey that order. I'm going after you."

Natsu put on both his scarf and his bag, still wearing the same clothes as usual, and blasted out of his house and through the forest one more time. The night had already sat in, the sky covered in millions of stars and the moon that revolved around the Earth. Natsu looked up and saw one star shine much brighter than the others, he smiled. "I'll find you!" He yelled out into the night sky.

He took out the note one last time and sniffed it. "That way." Natsu then bolted to the west side of the Guild, leaving only a trail of dust.

**A/N:** Hope you enjoy the first chapter. Also, this story might be a bit long so yeah this is my first Natza/Nerza long fanfic (I've made a one shot and it was ok I guess, if you want to check it out, it's called One Chance, A Nerza Fanfic.) See y'all soon with the next update.


	2. Chapter 2: Another Chase

**A/N: **I didn't expect a lot of people to like my story. Thanks guys. Also, I usually update every once a week but I'll make an exception for this particular story so enjoy.

Back at the guild, Gray, Lucy and Happy were all sitting on a table, having small talk. "You think Natsu is all right?" The feline of the group said, breaking the tension that had stirred up.

"He'll be fine," Gray put his arms across his chest. "Just give it time."

"I think that's a bad idea you know?" Lucy stated.

"You're kind of right," Gray added. "Time and Natsu do not go well. At all."

"You guys should go see what he is up to." Another feminine voice joined, nearing her footsteps to their group table.

"Huh?" Lucy turned around from her seat and noticed Mirajane walking towards them with drinks. "Oh it's just you Mirajane."

Mirajane then put all the drinks onto their table. "Are you guys going to or what?" She repeated her question once more.

"See Natsu? He's a big boy," Gray drank one of the drinks. "Besides it ain't like he's gonna do something idiotic."

"THAT'S EXACLTY WHAT HE'LL DO!" Both Lucy and Mirajane yelled at Gray, making him spit his drink out of his mouth.

"I… get… your… concern," Gray gasped for air. "Sorry about that."

"Where do you think he went?" Lucy stared at Happy, who was sitting across from her.

"Natsu is probably at home," Happy sighed. "He goes there when he needs some space, needs to think or when his is very sad…"

"He'll most likely be there!" Mirajane said.

Gray tilted his head towards Mirajane. "How are you so sure that he'll be there?" He asked her, giving her an estranged look.

"Hello," Mirajane waved her hands as if she was stating something obvious. "He needs space? Check. He needs to think? Double check. He's very sad? Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner."

"…" Gray grunted at Mirajane.

"It's no wonder Natsu always calls you '_ice for brains,_'" Mirajane rolled her eyes and sighed. "Anyways, I'm very sure he'll be there!"

"Ok then," Lucy got up from her seat, and proceeded to walk towards the door. "Let's go!"

"Lucy-chan?" Happy also got up from his seat.

"Uh yes?" She looked down at Happy.

"Do you even know where we're going?" Happy asked.

"Uh I've only visited your house once or twice… yeah I think you should lead the way." She gave a weak laugh.

"Hey!" Gray got up from his seat as well and joined their little group. "What makes you think I don't know the way?"

"You've only been there once or twice as well." Lucy glared at him, giving Goosebumps to Gray.

"… Touché." He said lowly.

"Oh and more thing Gray." Lucy said.

"What's that?" Gray responded.

"Your shirt is missing." She pointed at his chest.

He looked down at his chest and realized that his stripping habit got the best of him. "Gah! Dammit!"

A few minutes after Gray found his shirt, he, Lucy and Happy set out to comfort their loud mouthed pinkette friend. They soon walked out of the guild, and followed Happy into the woods. As they strolled, the crickets and owls filled the darkness with their sounds. Nothing but silence came was heard from all three. "It's up right around here…" The blue cat said, watching his steps carefully.

"Oh I see it!" Lucy then pointed at the lodge like house, which was only a few more steps in front of them.

"Hey Natsu!" Gray yelled from his position.

"Natsu!" Lucy joined and yelled as well.

They almost neared the front door. "You think he is sleeping?" Suggested Gray.

"Maybe," Happy went to a rock, picked it up and underneath it was a spare key. "But I doubt it."

Happy then gave the key to Lucy and she proceeded to put the key into the lock. Without even twisting the lock to unlock it, the door itself opened. "Why is the door open?" Lucy nervously said.

"Let me go first," Gray pulled Lucy behind him. "Be on your guard." He kicked the rest of the door opened and all three entered.

"Uh why?" Lucy asked Gray.

"Hello? The door is unlocked and Natsu may not be here," Gray cleared things up. "I smell trouble if you ask me."

"Sorry." Lucy apologized, also walking inside.

Happy looked around and saw the place a bit messy. "The place looks ransacked." His words escaped his mouth.

"It kinda does…" Lucy whispered.

"Check around and see if there isn't anybody in the house." Gray suggested as he walked into the living room, readying his ice make magic.

Lucy checked into the kitchen. She walked until she heard noises coming from inside the stove. "Guys! Come over here by the kitchen!" She yelled towards her friends. She picked up a frying pan and used it as a weapon.

Gray quickly went to the kitchen, once he made it in, he switched places with, once again leaving Lucy behind him followed by Happy behind her. "Come out fiend!" He stretched his hands far enough.

"I think we're gonna have to open it ourselves…" Lucy whispered from behind him, holding up the frying pan for defense.

"Ok then," Gray walked slowly towards the stove. He grabbed its handle and instantly opened it. "Come out!" Without knowing, a gray, white and black four legged furred little mammal came out, scratching Gray's face and running out of the kitchen, to the living room and proceeded out the front door. "OWW!" Gray put his hands over his face, covering his scratches.

"Gray!" Lucy immediately threw the pan onto the floor and checked up on Gray, who was lying on the floor, covering his face. "Are you ok? Did the creature hurt you?"

"That _creature_ was actually Steve the raccoon." Happy corrected.

"A-a raccoon?" Lucy questioned Happy.

"Yeah," Happy explained. "One day, while I and Natsu were sleeping, we awoke from the same sounds that came from the stove. Natsu went to go inspect and I followed. As he opened it, the raccoon came out running at Natsu only it didn't hurt Natsu or me."

"Really?" Lucy still trying to help Gray who is still covering his face. "What happened then?"

"It sniffed us and knew we were friendly," Happy still continued on with his story. "And right there and then, Natsu and I befriended it and Natsu came up with the name, so hence why we call him Steve."

"That's pretty ironic," Gray finally subsided the pain. "Him? And you? Befriending a rodent like that?"

"Uh yeah!" Happy retorted at Gray. "Anyways I'm starting to think that maybe Natsu made the mess himself."

"What makes you think that?" Gray asked as Lucy inspected his face.

"Hold still Gray." She leaned in closer to look at his face.

Gray's face then turned to a shade of red. "Uh L-Lucy?"

'Y-Yeah?" Lucy also started to slightly blush.

"Don't you think you're a little bit c-close?" Lucy then backed up, stopping the tension between the two.

"Sorry." She apologized and got up. "Your scratches are o-only minor."

Gray then stood up himself as well. "Figured much, anyways, what do you mean Natsu caused this himself?"

"Well," Happy started to walk into the diner room, which was next to the kitchen. "When Natsu is really sad, he kinda gets overwhelmed and accidentally destroys his own stuff. Also I found this." Happy then pointed in the middle of the table.

"That's a rose," Lucy said, picking up the beautiful vase that contained the rose. "You guys never had this on your table?"

"Nope." Happy responded.

"Was that the only thing here?" Gray asked Happy.

"That and this," Happy then showed them an empty envelope. "It was under the tale." He handed it over to Gray.

"Crap…" Gray said under his voice.

"What's wrong Gray?" Lucy said still inspecting the flower.

"We might need some help in this after all…" Gray scratched his head.

"Umm whose help?"

.

.

.

"What!? You need my help?" A long slick dark haired man, with piercings all over his face said, munching on a silver platter.

"Unfortunately," Gray sighed, with Lucy and Happy next to him, stood right by the man's table. "We do Gajeel."

"Well you can forget it!" He yelled, placing his legs over the table.

"Come on Gajeel," a black male cat persuaded. "It could be fun."

"Listen to Pantherlily, Gajeel!" Happy somewhat suggested.

Gajeel closed his eyes and thought about it for the second time. "… What's in it for me?"

The trio suddenly huddled together and whispered to each other. "What are they doing Gajeel?" A short petite blue haired woman came by.

"They're just here discussing something about my use of expertise shrimp." Gajeel explained.

"You? Expertise?" The short girl snickered.

"OI!" Gajeel yelled at the trio. "I'll go if she goes."

"Eh?" The short girl was suddenly in shock.

Lucy then looked at the bluenette. "L-Levy-chan? Her?"

"Yeah her!" Gajeel exclaimed.

"W-What?" Levy was still in shock.

"I'll only go if she goes." Gajeel explained once more.

"That's the only catch?" Both Happy and Pantherlily said at the same time.

"Yeah." Gajeel snickered.

"Oh God, why did I come over here." Levy was suddenly picked up by Gajeel, who had put her on his shoulder.

"Come on now!" Gajeel said as he still carried the small girl.

"WAIT!" Another voice feminine voice said out loud.

Everybody but Gajeel turned. "Wendy?" Lucy said as Wendy and Carla rushed by.

"We want to… go with… you guys too…" She and her exceed companion panted.

"Uh really?" Gray raised an eyebrow, debating if she should go or not. "Eh why not."

"Can Juvia join too?" The rain woman came from out of nowhere and spoke.

"I don't see why not?" Lucy gave Juvia a smile.

Juvia then gave her a scary smirk and proceeded to hug Gray. "Juvia just wants to keep an eye on her love rival so she doesn't do anything to my Gray-sama." An evil aura then emitted from Juvia.

"Woah now Juvia, let's all just calm down now." Gray pleaded.

Her evil aura disappeared. "Ok Gray-sama." She quickly turned her scary smirk into a smile.

"Ok, now if there's no more interruptions," Gajeel, still carrying Levy on his right shoulder, said. "What exactly do you need me for, stripper boy?"

Gray then reached for his pocket and gave Gajeel the envelope. "I need you to find Natsu."

Gajeel then sniffed it, capturing the smell. "Hold up."

"Now what?" Gray asked Gajeel about the envelope.

"There's two smells on it." He said.

"Whose smells?" Levy and Lucy both said at the exact time.

"The Salamanders smell," Gajeel then put Levy down. "And Titania's smell as well."

**A/N: **Sorry for leaving you at this cliffhanger guys. And I hope you like it. Next update will be soon and sorry for no other Natsu or Erza part in this, next chapter will definitely have one or the other. Bye.


	3. Chapter 3: Which Way?

"Erza's smell is on that envelope?" The celestial mage was startled with the groundbreaking news.

"Yeah." The iron dragon slayer answered.

"Why is her scent on it?" The ice mage now questioned.

"How the f*** am I supposed to know, you damn stripper?" The dragon slayer retorted back at him.

"So are we gonna go or what?" A short blue haired mage, standing beside the iron dragon slayer said.

"We have no choice I guess…" The ice mage then found himself stripped out of his own shirt. "Oh dammit!"

"Are both smells in the same direction?" A blue feline cat asked.

"It seems like it." The dragon slayer sniffed once more, getting the scent of both Titania and the Salamander.

"Oi Gajeel!" The sky dragon slayer called out to older dragon slayer.

"What is it shrimp?" He turned to look at Wendy.

"Let me smell that envelope as well." Wendy had gone up to him to retrieve the envelope but Gajeel teased her by putting the envelope on a height were she can't reach.

"Gajeel…" Levy then smacked Gajeel, which led him to surrender, giving the envelope to Wendy.

"Fine." He rolled his eyes away.

"Thank you." Wendy then went back to her Exceed's side and sniffed the envelope.

"Now that we have more 'eyes' looking for Natsu-" Gray was then cut off by Lucy.

"And Erza." She sighed while adding her name.

"Yeah and her," Gray said. "Now we can start the search."

"Question." Gajeel asked away.

"What is it screw for brains?" Gray gave the floor to Gajeel.

"Which way?" Gajeel crossed his arms around his chest.

"Excuse me?" Lucy was puzzled at Gajeel's question.

"WHICH. WAY?" He yelled it out loud.

"Wendy," A white feline cat asked her human companion. "What is he talking about?"

"What direction should we go?" She restated the question in the much clearest way as possible.

"I still don't know what you mean by that…" The rest of the gang other than Gajeel and Wendy, gave a dumbfounded look, still trying to comprehend the question.

"Which way did the Salamander go?" Gajeel once again asked his question.

"I thought you were supposed to know that!" Levy yelled out, frightening the members of the search team.

"For the love," Gajeel facepalmed. "Which way? There is 2 directions that both scents go in the opposite direction."

Gray and the rest were startled by the question. "Two ways?"

"Yes." Both Gajeel and Wendy exclaimed.

"Well," Lucy put her fingers on chin, remembering the direction in which they came from Natsu's house. "We came from the forest in which Natsu's house is located in."

"So that'll be east?" Gajeel asked Lucy.

"I guess." Lucy lowly said.

"We're heading west then." Gajeel started walking towards the Guild's doors.

"Why west?" Levy asked, as she was walking side by side with Gajeel.

"The scent heading that way is much more new than the one going east."

Gajeel, Levy, Gray, Juvia, Lucy, Wendy, and the Exceeds now followed the steps in which Natsu took and ventured into the night starry sky.

On the other side of Magnolia Town, where the trains can be heard, Natsu's nose picked up her trail there. "Now where are yo-." Natsu can see that he must ride the train to in order to follow Erza's trail. "Damn…"

He walked up towards the booth in which sold the train tickets, he was sweating, nervous that his own motion sickness can jeopardize the trail. "Crap… how am I going to do this now?" He asked himself, trying to figure out a way to overcome this weakness of his.

He thought for a while until it was his turn to get a ticket. "Where would you be going sir?" A man behind a stained glass window asked Natsu, which snapped him back into the real world.

Natsu answered. "Anywhere that is west."

"Well that was umm specific." The man said sarcastically.

"Sorry," Natsu apologized for his broad statement. "Well any destination that is west is fine, in fact, which place is the farthest west from here?"

The man took out what seemed to be a small pamphlet. Inside it read all of the cities that where all west. "Well," The man took out reading glasses that were inside a drawer from his desk and began to read out the cities. "The farthest city west from here is… Saturn Town is although that is a 2 day train rid-"

"GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!" Natsu slammed his money onto the desk, requesting his ticket.

"Ok sir, this would just take a minute," The man turned around and waited for the ticket to print. "So are you so eager to make it west?" The man seemingly wanted idle talk as he waited.

"Well," Natsu blushed at the thought of Erza in his mind. "It's jus-"

"Say no more," The man slightly smiled, reaching for the printed ticket for Saturn Town. "I've been in love too to know the face you make. It's too meet your girl, right?"

"Y-Yeah." Natsu stuttered, trying to map out a conclusion to what the man just told him.

The man gave Natsu his ticket. "Here you go young man," he gave a crooked smile to Natsu. "And one piece of advice."

"What is it old man?" Natsu asked.

"If this girl of yours makes you happy, smile, laugh, and make your heartbeat go fast," The man fixed his hat before finishing his sentence. "She's the one."

Natsu smiled, knowing that Erza does that to him even upon thinking about her. "Yeah she does."

Natsu now walked up to his train, awaiting his destination. "ALL ABOARD!" A man in a red uniform yelled out, signaling that the train is about to head out. Natsu then ran to it, catching up and making his way in.

"Phew," Natsu let out a heavy breath. "Well at least I still have her scent. As a matter in fact…" Natsu sniffed around, realizing that this was the train Erza took herself.

"Everybody," Another man in a red uniform said out loud inside the train. "Please find a seat and stay seated at all times. This ride is for Saturn Town and it will be a long one."

Natsu then looked for a seat. "Aha!" He found one where he can see from the window, the view of the horizon.

Upon his look, the Sun was about to come up, lighting little by little Magnolia Town.

"It's about to be morning!?" He said to himself. "Well damn."

The train was moving little by little at the start, it soon moved much faster after several minutes. "After this turn, we'll be out of Magnolia Town before you know it." The man in uniform informed.

Natsu then yawned. He was getting tired now, eyes watery and constant yawning. He rubbed his eyes. "I should take a little nap." Instantly upon shutting his eyes, he snored away, already in dreamland.

**A/N: **Sorry for a late update, was thinking on making a Valentine's Day for Nerza/Natza since it's coming up. That and for my Pokémon one as well. Either way, the next update would hopefully be in the next 2 days or so. Enjoy and please leave a positive review. Have a nice day.


	4. Chapter 4: Thanks For The Help

"C-Can I help you?" A young man said behind a stained glass window.

"Have you seen a pink headed male around here?" Lucy asked the man.

"Umm sorry ma'am, I wasn't here in the morning shift, so I really wouldn't know." He took of his hat, trying to break the news to her.

"Oh well that's ok." She sighed, and went back to her friends who were sitting on a bench.

Already morning, the group had made it to Magnolia's Train station, thanks to Gajeel's keen sense of smell. Gray sat next to Juvia while Wendy sat in between Carla and Happy, and Gajeel next to Levy and Pantherlily who was sitting on Levy's lap. "So did the ticket man say anything?" Juvia, of all the bunch, spoke to Lucy as she walked back.

"The guy said that he wasn't here for the morning shift." Lucy sat next to Levy.

"Bummer." Wendy sighed.

Just as they were going to give up, the man behind the stall shouted at the. "Oi! Ma'am! I found somebody that may help you!" He waved around his hand.

The group got up and went in the man's direction. "Come on guys." Lucy, being the first to get up from the bench, told the whole group.

"Ok we're here," Gajeel turned to look at the man. "Spill the beans."

"Well aren't you an intimidating guy?" An old man with the same red uniform as the young one commented on Gajeel's look. The girls of the group chuckled at his remark.

"Listen here you old ass man-" Gajeel was then cut off when the old man lashed at him with his stick, hitting him in the head.

"You should be more respectful to elders' young man!" The old man was then being held back by the young worker.

"Grandpa, please stop!" The young man struggled.

"Tch!" Gajeel only gave him a grin while rubbing on bump on his head.

"Sorry for my friend's unneighborly look bu-" Gray was the next to be hit in the head.

"You call that unneighborly look? Look at yourself! You have stripped yourself of your clothes!" The old man remarked on Gray's look.

Gray, rubbing his head, looked down on his appearance. "GAH! My shirt!" Gray shouted.

"Right here Gray-sama!" Juvia then handed Gray's shirt. "Juvia shall look over your clothes when you strip."

"Ugh, thanks Juvia." He grabbed his shirt and put it back on.

"Anyways, barring any more interruptions," Lucy proceeded to ask the old man questions. "You said to this man that you could help us."

"Finally someone with decency," the old man turned to look at the blonde. "And yes I told my grandson to tell you that." He nudged at the young man.

"Grandpa, can you just tell them?" He looked at his grandfather then back at the group, signaling him.

"Oh right," He coughed, clearing his throat. "You said this young fellow friend of yours was a pinkette correct?"

"Yes." The whole group agreed upon that.

"As it turns out, when I was in the morning shift," he cleared his throat once more. "I met a young fellow with that same appearance."

"Did he take the train?" Happy asked.

"Why else would you come to a train station?" He gave the cat an indecent look. Frowning upon Happy.

"Can we just get back on topic? And Happy, shut it." Lucy also gave the blue cat an indecent look.

"Yes, he took the train." The old man finally answered the question.

"Where to?" Levy proceeded to ask the next question.

"Let me see here…" The old man started recollecting his memories from that shift.

"You're gonna have to wait a while, my grandpa can take a while to remember stu-" The young man was interrupted by his grandfather.

"Saturn Town! It was Saturn Town." He finally remembered.

"Saturn Town? Where's that?" Wendy asked.

"It's the farthest town to the west." Gajeel answered that question.

"How do you know scrap for brains?" Gray wondered much.

"Juvia and Gajeel have taken a mission over there twice, it's also a 2 day trip. Good town." Juvia answered.

"Speaking of which, how the hell did you figure out that when you can barely figure out when it's my birthday!?" The young man yelled in his grandfather's ear.

"Easy, he told me that he was looking for this girl." He answered.

"Girl? Do you mean Erza?" Lucy, Wendy and Levy said at the exact same time.

"He didn't mention a name but he was excited to meet her again." The old man told them.

"Excited? That doesn't sound like the Natsu we know." Gray remarked.

"Unless if it was a battle, then yes." Happy chuckled.

"True." Pantherlily agreed upon that.

"No." The old man didn't agree with that.

"No?" Lucy, sounding curious, asked. "What do you mean by no?"

"His face," the old man began. "It told me a different story. It's a face that I can easily recognize."

"What kind of face are we talking about?" Levy asked.

"The face of love." He said.

"EHH!?" The whole group couldn't believe what the man just said. They can barely see a love-struck Natsu in their heads.

"It's true." The old man once again said.

"Seriously? You can remember this but not my birthday!?" The young man is still brooding over the moment.

"Son, go back to the stand. There are people waiting." The old man reminded the boy of the job. He walked, crying wryly.

The team, still astonished over the revelation that has been revealed to them, are trying to come back to their senses after imagining a love-struck Natsu in their heads. "I still can't believe it." Levy was the first to come back.

"Hard to believe that that ash for brains can think of something else other than a fight." Gray openly admitted.

"Tch. Is hard to believe that he can even think at all." Gajeel rolled his eyes, as everyone chuckled at his remark.

"Ahem, anyways, if you're going to go to Saturn City, you're gonna have to wait an hour. Next train don't come back until then." The old man started to go back inside the train station's overlook.

"An hour? We have that much to prepare for then." Pantherlily notified them.

"What are we gonna do in the mean time?" Wendy asked the group.

"Firsts things first, we should get the tickets." Gray replied, as he walked in line.

**Meanwhile…**

Natsu couldn't sleep, his weakness to motion sickness kicked in. "BLERGHHH!" Natsu, hanging from the train's window, threw up.

"Excuse me sir?" A man from behind asked.

Natsu turned to look, there stood a dark haired man with a navy blue uniformed scrub, sitting across from him holding what seemed to be a book of some sort. "Yea- BLERGHHH!" He turned back against the window to vomit.

"Do you need help with your motion sickness?" He asked, as he closed his book.

"Yeah." Natsu managed to hold it in for a bit.

"I have a spell that can help. Is that ok?" The man put his book away in his cream-colored satchel like bag, got up from his seat and sat next to Natsu and casted his spell. "Equilibrium!" He blurted out.

Suddenly, Natsu glowed blue, seemingly coming back from his senses. "Thanks." Natsu happily thanked the man, giving him a tight hug.

"No… problem… you're squishing me… sir." The man looked like if he was about to faint.

Natsu let go. "Sorry." He immediately apologized.

"No worries," the young man accepted his apology. "You're heading to Saturn Town as well?"

"Yeah," Natsu looked outside his window, looking at what seemed to be an open plains and a mountain side. "I'm looking for a woman."

"A woman?" The man raised an eyebrow. "Is she your girlfriend or something?"

"More like a friend." Natsu corrected, trying to hide his blush.

"So you like this girl?" The man pestered on with questions.

"You could say so." Natsu openly admitted his crush towards Erza to the strange man.

"Oh, what's her name?" Again, he pestered with questions.

"Why don't you start with your name?" Natsu asked him.

"Oh sorry my bad," the man forgot to introduce himself. "My name is Terry. Terry Mateo."

"Natsu. Natsu Dragneel." Once again, they handshake.

"Ok Mr. Dragneel," Terry fixed himself on the chair. "What's her name?"

"Erza Scarlet." He revealed the girl he had a crush on.

"Erza Scarlet? Cute name." Terry said.

"Yeah, tell me, why are you going to Saturn Town?" Natsu now turned the tables around.

Terry looked around the train, checking if there was anybody else listening, which surprised Natsu. "I may look like a medical intern of some sort but this is just a gimmick." He told Natsu.

"Gimmick? Are you on some sort of miss-" Natsu was cut off by Terry.

"SHHH! Not so loud." Terry pulled out his badge and showed it to the pinkette.

**Magic Counsel Private Investigator, Terry Mateo, S-Class Mage **Natsu read. "You're from the counsel?" He whispered.

"I'm going over there to investigate about rogue male mage." Terry told him about his secret mission.

"A rogue mage? What about him?" Natsu smiled, eagerly wanting to know more about the man. It pumped him up.

Terry then shriveled up with fear, which made Natsu a bit worried. It took him a while but he final spoke again. "That guy, his name is Reddrick Santos. He's a real menace. Wanted by the counsel themselves."

"Then this guy must be really tough. What'd he do to get their attention?" Natsu, now more than ever was excited.

"The man slaughtered thousands… destroyed many cities, towns and villages with a blink of an eye… and …" Terry shook all over with fear.

"And what?" The more Natsu listened, the more he was interested in fighting the man.

"He has already murdered 3 of the Wizard Saints."

**A/N: **Sorry for not updating. I was on a hiatus. Anyways, I'm back now and I'm ready to start on more Nerza/Natza stuff. Hehehe. Expect more from that pairing. Also, sorry for the long wait. Again.


	5. Chapter 5: I Can Help

"3 Wizard Saints!?" Natsu no longer shivered in excitement. Goosebumps moved up from his spine, tingling him with what seemed to be fear.

"... yeah..." Terry looked down, sweating more nervously than before.

"So this Reddrick Santo guy is really that tough?" Natsu asked.

"No doubt about it." Terry told him.

"Jesus Christ," Natsu was much more worried than ever. "And they sent you? You? You could barely even handle saying his name let alone beat him!"

"Well I have a partner," Terry said, adjusting his seat. "But she woke up late and told me she was gonna take the second train to Saturn Town."

"S-Class Mage as well?" Natsu asked him.

"Obviously." Terry rolled his eyes, stating the obvious.

"So only the 2 of you are gonna apprehend the guy?" Natsu scratched his head.

"Yup." Terry replied.

"You guys are gonna get cre-"

"Don't say it!" Terry put his fingers over Natsu's mouth, shutting his yap before he can finish he question.

Natsu smacked his hand away. "Fine," Natsu somewhat didn't bother with finishing his last sentence. "But you're gonna need help. Like a lot of it to bring this guy down."

"It's not like the Council has an army of S-Class makes ready to sent against the guy." Terry heavily sighed, leaning his back onto his chair and looked up.

"I'll help you guys!" Natsu happily volunteered.

"But you said you were gonna look for your girl-"

"SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!" Natsu retorted back.

"I mean your friend," Terry dropped a sweat or two, being somewhat terrified of Natsu's loud rampant. "I thought you were looking for your friend?"

"Well that doesn't I still can't look for her while helping you guys." Natsu told him.

"Eh..." Terry had thought about it for a second. He finally came up with an answer. "Well I suppose it wouldn't hurt for us to get one extra pair of arms."

"Alright." Natsu smiled, overjoyed with Terry's conclusion.

"Are you even an S-Class Mage?" Terry questioned him.

"Yeah," Natsu answered. "Ever heard of The Salamander?"

Terry's eyes widen. "You're _the Salamander_?"

"Yeah-"

"LET ME GET YOUR AUTOGRAPH!" Terry instantly took out a a piece of paper and a pen, handing it over to Natsu.

"Well damn..." Natsu seemingly felt like he just released some sort of fanboying part that Terry had kept secret.

"I've heard so many things about you!" Terry's eyes glowed, overjoyed to meet the Salamander.

"Nice things?" Natsu asked, intrigued in what type of things the people at the Council have spread about him.

"Let's just call it mutual respect." Terry scratched his forehead, while giving out a weak wry laugh.

"OK then." Natsu handed over the pen and the paper.

"Thanks!" He put them back into his bag. "Oh Christi would so be jealous of this.."

"Christi? Is that your partner's name?" Natsu said, trying to figure out the third person in their group.

"Christi? Yeah that's her name." Terry said.

"What do you mean she'll get jealous?" Natsu was still somewhat puzzled.

"She's always wanted an autograph from you," Terry told him. "She needs it for a collection."

"Collection?" Natsu seemed to have gotten somewhat worried. "Is she some type of Salamander obsessed person?"

"Her? Nah," Terry said. "She collects autographs from all sorts of popular mages."

"Really? Am I the last person she needs an autograph from?" Natsu was slightly curious.

"Yours and Titania's." He answered him.

"Erza's as well?" Natsu asked.

"Wait a minute," Terry realised what Natsu just said. "You mean to tell me the girl you like is Titania!?" He raised his voice.

"Yeah." Natsu smiled like an idiot each time he thought of Erza.

"HOLY SHIT!" Terry yelled out. "YOU'RE IN LOVE WITH TITANIA!? THIS IS BIG NEWS!"

"Quiet down." Natsu lowly spoke.

"Sorry sorry," Terry covered his mouth, apologizing for his loud outburst. "But seriously, Titania? You two would have some pretty epic babies."

"WHAT!?"

_**Back with the other group...**_

"ALL ABOARD!" A man, waving his hands, said.

"Hurry the hell up, the fucking train is about to leave!" Gajeel told the whole group, all of them sprinting towards the the train.

They make it, panting quickly trying to catch their breaths. The doors closed behind them. "Phew." Lucy said.

"We should find some seats," Levy looked around. She then started walking to the group's right. "Over here." She pointed at empty seats.

They all walked towards the seats. "We're not all gonna fit." Lucy said.

"We could sit over here," Wendy pointed at the next pair of empty sits. "Over here Lucy." She along with Happy went and sat with the young dragon slayer and her exceed, Carla.

"Where are you going Lily?" Gajeel turned to look at his exceed who seemingly went and sat with Lucy and Wendy.

"Just gonna sit with them," Pantherlily sat next to Happy. "More space."

"Fine." Gajeel sat next to window, while Levy took the seat next to him.

Across from them was Gray, who also took the window seat and Juvia. "This is gonna be a long ride." Gray said, looking outside the window.

"The train has yet to move yet as well." Levy commented.

"That's exactly what I mean," Gray turned to look at the pair in from of him. "2 days spent in here trying to catch up to that ash - for - brains Natsu from reaching Erza."

"Natsu is at least 10, almost 11 hours away from here already." Juvia said.

"Y'all are just gonna be pessimistic throughout the whole trip?" Wendy, behind Wendy's and Gray's seat, said.

"I hope not," Gajeel put his arms across his chest, feeling a bit nauseous. "I'll probably take a nap before the train starts moving."

"Motion sickness already?" Levy turned to look at Gajeel.

"Tch," Gray grunted. "You have a weak stomach."

"At least I don't have the habit of taking off my clothes every once in a while." Gajeel remarked on Gray's appearance.

Gray looked down, surprised he had taken off his own shirt. "Oh dammit!"

"No worries Gray-sama," Juvia took out his shirt from her own purse. "Juvia will pick up your clothes."

"Thanks Juvia." He grabbed his shirt.

Gajeel had already started to snore, quickly going into a deep slumber and just about the same time, the train finally started to move. "Next stop, Saturn Town!" The conductor yelled out.

"At this rate we'll catch up to Natsu," Levy said. "Eventually."

"I hope so," Gray heavily sighed resting his eyes and laid back onto his seat. "He'll probably find Erza way before we find him."

"Right after this turn, we're out of Magnolia Town." The conductor blatantly said.

"You're probably right about that." Lucy, also coming from the seats behind Gray's and Juvia seats, said.

"What are you doing love rival!?" Juvia masked around an evil aura, scaring Lucy, Gray, and Levy.

"I-I'll just sit back down now..." Lucy sat back down, slightly terrified.

"Good." Juvia hid her evil aura once more, becoming her normal self once more.

Just as silence overlooked the group, a mysterious person went up to them. "Excuse me, but are all of you mages?" The orange headed lady, wearing blue like scrubs said

"Aye, that we are." Happy answered her.

"Yeah," Levy put her book down. "What's it to you?"

"I'm a fellow mage myself," she said. "My name is Christi. Christi Burk."

"Christi?" Gray seemed like he heard that name before but shook his head and discarded it. "Well my name is Gray. Gray Fullbuster."

"My name is Juvia Lockser." Juvia introduced herself to Christi.

"My name is Lucy Heartfilia." Lucy waved her hand, greeting their guest.

"Hi, I'm Wendy Marvell." Wendy took Christ's hand and shook it. "Over here is Carla."

"Hello." Carla, the white exceed graciously waved at her.

"Happy right here." Wendy pointed at the blue exceed.

"Aye." Happy raised it's hand, introducing himself.

"And this one is Pantherlily, but we call him Lily for short." She pointed at the black exceed.

"Hello there." Pantherlily greeted Christi.

"I'm Levy McGarden," Levy greeted her. "And this guy right here us Gajeel Redfox."

"Nice to meet you all." She happily waved at them.

"You're heading to Saturn Town too?" Juvia asked her.

"Yeah," Christi took the seat across from them, to their right. "I have an important mission with a partner but he took the earlier train."

"Mission? What kind of mission?" Lucy asked her.

"Well I'm not suppose to say but," Christi took out what seemed to be some sort of identification. "Here."

She handed over the card to Levy, who then proceeded to read it out loud for everyone to hear. "**S-Class Counsel Mage, Christi Burk, Private Investigator.**"

"You're from the counsel?" Gray asked her.

"Yeah." Christi answered.

"Juvia thinks your mission seems very important if you're from the counsel." Juvia said.

"I'm not sure," Christi explained. "My partner didn't tell me much about it. I woke up late and he took the other bus."

"To Saturn Town right?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah," Christi said. "All he said was to go capture some fugitive. That was about it."

"That's sounds really vague." Gray commented.

"He's always like that," Christi heavily sighed. "So what about you guys?"

"You could say we're after a _fugitive _as well." Gray snickered.

"Natsu isn't really a fugitive Gray." Lucy remarked.

"Yeah but he should've listened," Gray said. "We probably wouldn't be having this conversation with Christi if it weren't for him."

"Natsu?" Christi wondered who he was. "He's your friend?"

"Aye." Happy said.

"Why does his name sound familiar?" Christi was thinking.

"He gets in trouble a lot so his name should be somewhat infamous over there at the Counsel." Lucy slightly giggled.

"Is he The Salamander?" Christi asked the group.

"That's one of his nicknames, yes." Levy said, fixing her glasses.

"Really?!" Christi all of a sudden filled the air with her excitement.

"Juvia is wondering why strange woman is getting excited about Natsu." Juvia wondered and asked.

"It's just that I'm somewhat a fan of his." Christi admitted.

"A fan? Geez." Gray turned to look back at his window.

"Yeah," Christi said. "Well sorta, I collect well known Mage signatures."

"So your a collector?" Levy asked.

"Like I said," Christi repeated herself. "Sorta."

"So is he your last one?" Wendy asked.

"His and Titania's." Christi revealed her last signatures she needed.

"Erza's as well?" Juvia asked.

"So that's her name..." Christi said. "Sounds pretty."

"Yeah." Lucy agreed with her on that.

"So this fugitive," Gray changed the topic. "Is he powerful?"

"I really don't know," Christi wondered the same thing. "My partner was vague like I said earlier."

"If he is, Natsu might want to fight him." Gray said.

"Well that's unless Terry, my partner says yes," Christi said. "He's usually the brains in the operation."

"I'm pretty sure they probably met already."

...

"So miss Scarlet," a dark tall man, slowly walked towards a chained up Erza. Seemingly being suspended up in the air. "Are you gonna talk now? Finally gonna give me the location of the artifact?"

"N-Never!" Erza, all bloodied up, yelled at him.

"Am I gonna have to torture you again?" The tall man seemingly took his hand and slowly caressed Erza's cheek.

"..." Erza didn't even bother saying a word.

"Am I?" He repeated himself.

"You'll never break me!" She spit in his face.

"Bad move Ms. Scarlet." The man slapped Erza right across her face.

"AGH!" She yelled in agony.

The man seemingly started walking back towards the door. "I'll come back when you're finally willing to talk."

"Y-You... b-bastard..." Erza panted, barely having enough strength to speak.

"Now now Ms. Scarlet, who's the one naked and chained up?" The man opened the door, about to step out. "That's right, you." He got out, leaving Erza all battered up and bloodied.

"You'll never get away with this Reddrick!" She yelled, helplessly flailing around in her chains. "Never!"

**A/N: **Sorry for leaving at this cliffhanger. Hope you like the newest chapter. And sorry if you find a misspelled word, I mostly do these on my phone. Anyways leave a review if you like, bye.


	6. Chapter 6: Hello Boys

**A/N:** Sorry for taking long in updating. Lots of stuff came up. Wow I can't believe there's a lot of Nerza/Natza fans here. Really appreciate it :D Now for story time…

Reddrick came back into Erza's holding cell, seemingly closing the door behind him and closing in on Erza. "So mi lady, are you ready to talk?" He stretched out his hand towards her face, raising her from her chin.

"First of all..," Erza brushed off Reddrick's hand away, mustered up some saliva and spat and his face once more. "And second, what makes you think I'll ever talk to you?"

He wiped the saliva from his face. "Are you this persistent?" He asked.

"Only when need to." Erza smirked.

Reddrick can only grin back at her, becoming furious with every second she resisted. "You will tell me." He then gave a menacing smile, looking back at the door.

"I mean you've had me like this for almost three days," She scoffed. "What makes you think this time will be different?"

"Do you not feel that magic?" He told her.

Erza stopped her pestering and focused on what Reddrick had told her. "What magic?"

"As I thought..." He started to walk towards the door, opening the door.

"What magic!?" She swung around in her chains, helplessly swinging back and forth.

"You're still not powerful to sense magic from a far, I see," He smirked. "Let's just say, a few of your friends might be coming…" Reddrick closed the behind him, leaving Erza somewhat clueless.

"My friends?" She looked down on the floor she helplessly floated above, blood dripping from her forehead fell in a puddle of mud where she gazed up on. "Could it be?"

…

"Are we almost there conductor?" Terry asked the conductor who was strolling around the train.

The man glimpsed at his watch, then back at Terry. "In half an hour." He started his stroll around the train once more before reaching Saturn Town.

Terry then turned around and saw Natsu hanging from the window. "Did the magic spell wore off?"

Natsu flailed around as he puked. "Yea- HMPHT!" He held his vomit for a few seconds before opening his mouth once more to spew it all over the side of the train.

"Well we're almost there," Terry told him. "You think you can last another 30 minutes before we make it into town?" Natsu just looked at him and nodded **no**. "Guess it can't be help… Equilibrium!" He casted the spell once more on Natsu.

"Phew," Natsu wiped the sweat over his forehead. "Thanks man."

"Don't mention it." Terry continued reading his book.

"I can't believe it's been 2 days already." Natsu sighed, somewhat exhausted at his activity he'd done on the train's window.

"Lazy writing." Terry said out loud.

"Excuse me?" Natsu asked him, confused at his words that were thrown at his direction.

"This damn book!" Terry threw the book on his lap. "It has lazy writing, no effort put into this damn thing whatsoever by the damn author!"

"What's so special about the damn book anyways?" Natsu asked about the book Terry had brought to this mission.

"It was written by my favorite author…" Terry sighed, picking up the book and starting off where he left off once more.

"So?" Natsu still asked.

"I mean, how can an author go from 5 star seller to crappy ass? It makes no sense." He commented his opinion on the book.

"Let me see it." Natsu held his arm, reaching in for the book.

"Here." Terry threw it once more, this time throwing it on Natsu's lap.

"_The Adventures of a dragon and his Slayer, written by Anne Hughes,_" Natsu read out loud, rolling his eyes, annoyed by the book before he even started reading it. "What kind of crap is this?" He looked Terry who raised his shoulders. "I'm annoyed by the title, can I burn it?"

"Knock yourself out," Terry happily let him have his book. "Just don't do it in here."

"I'm not an idiot." Natsu put it in his bag.

"From what I've heard back at the council, your IQ can probably measure up to that of a damn potato." Terry laughed, making fun of Natsu's brain.

"I might not be book smarts but I sure as hell know enough of street smarts." Natsu defended his brain prowess.

"I'm sorry," Terry finally cleared the airwaves of his laughter. "I didn't mean to offend you."

"It's alright." Natsu accepted his apology.

"Passengers, we're now approaching Saturn Town," The conductor spoke on the loud speaker. "Once we reach it, I urge you to get out of the train in a nice and mannerly fashion. Thank you very much."

"Her scent." Natsu stood up, surprising Terry who still was sitting in his place.

"What now?" Confused at Natsu's words, Terry asked.

"Erza's scent," Natsu explained himself. "It's much stronger than before."

"Ah ok, got it." Terry then stood up himself.

The train came to a complete stop, and opened its doors. Many passengers including Natsu and Terry made their way out into the streets of Saturn Town. "This place…" Natsu looked around, somewhat having the sense of once being here before.

"What about it?" Terry looked around as well.

"It feels familiar…," Natsu said. "It just feels familiar, I don't know where from though."

"It could be a repressed memory." Terry told Natsu.

"A what now?" Natsu looked at Terry, raising an eyebrow.

"A repressed memory," Terry repeated himself once more. "You know, like a lost memory that you never thought you had until now."

"Oh that," Natsu looked around again, this time however, he found what seemed to be a bar. "Over there, we shall start our search there!"

"I urge us to wait for my partner," Terry said, looking at the opposite direction. He turned back to look over Natsu, and to his surprise, he had already ran towards it. "Dammit Natsu!" He ran towards him.

The door to the bar opened, entering both Natsu and Terry. "It's empty." Natsu saw the bartender, tending to his mugs and cups.

"I said we should wait for my partner, Natsu." Terry exclaimed.

"She could catch up," Natsu went towards a seat. "Besides, can't you leave her some type of markers or something so she could know we were here or there?"

Terry took the seat next to him. "I suppose." He sighed.

"What will you fellas be having today?" The bartender went up to them, trying to pick up their orders.

Both men looked at their menus. "I'll have a strawberry milkshake." Terry said, surprising both Natsu and the bartender.

"I beg your pardon?" The bartender didn't quite catch that.

"I said I'll have the strawberry milkshake, please." Terry charmingly smiled.

"Really?" Natsu said. "I thought you'd be more of a beer type of guy?"

"I don't like beer." Terry told Natsu.

"And you sir?" The bartender seemingly interfered in their conversation.

"Screw it, I'll have what he's having." Natsu put his menu down.

"Two strawberry milkshakes coming right up." The bartender left to the back, where his kitchen was located.

"He look over there," Terry got out of his seat and headed towards what seemed to be an old jukebox located in the far right corner of the bar. He dusted it off. "It's a jukebox!"

"Really? A jukebox?" Natsu looked displeasingly disappointed.

"What? My dad used to have one," Terry wiped most of the dust from it. "Always used to use it."

The bartender came out of the kitchen, bringing out their orders. "Oh that old thing?" He looked at Terry, messing with the old jukebox. "That thing stopped working ages ago."

"I'm an expert at restoring things, give me a minute and you'll have this up and running and again." Terry excitingly said.

"Anyways, here are your orders, enj-" Suddenly, the bartender was interrupted when the jukebox finally came back on. "Well I'll be damn, you did it."

"Impressive." Natsu somewhat praised Terry for his success.

The song Polyamorous by Breaking Benjamin played. "Sweet, you have Breaking Benjamin?" Terry commented on the bartender's taste of music.

"Haven't listened to that in ages," the bartender said. "I don't even know what songs are on it anymore."

"Well that's too bad," Terry made his way back to his seat to enjoy his snack. "Well that's all, you should keep it clean every once in a while."

"Will do," the bartender organized his drinks. "Anyways, you guys don't look like sightseers, any reason why you would come to this little town of ours?"

Natsu just about finished his milkshake, sipping it almost all at once. "We're kinda here on a mission."

"A mission? Did one of our townsfolk send y'all here to investigate the mines down south?" The bartender asked.

"The mines?" Both Natsu and Terry asked.

"Yeah," the bartender continued. "A few days ago, a couple of miners were killed. A few made it out but barely."

"You think your girlfriend went there?" Terry whispered to Natsu.

"She's not my girlfriend for the damn last time." He bursted out yelling.

"Something wrong boys?" The bartender eyed both men, who were acting somewhat strange.

"Nothing sir," Terry seemingly cleared the air from confusion. "Anyways, this one is sorta under the books." Terry added.

"A secret mission eh?" The bartender cleaned his mugs.

"You don't think he knows anything about Erza, do you?" Natsu whispered towards Terry.

"Worth a try, usually bartenders know some good amount of information." Terry whispered back.

"What are you to jabbering about?" The bartender startled both men.

Natsu pulled out a picture of him and the rest of his team. "Have you seen this red headed girl?" Natsu pointed at the Erza in the picture.

The bartender squinted then moved from his position towards theirs. "Ah this lass."

"You know her?" Terry finally finished his milkshake.

"Yup," the bartender said. "She stood out from the crowd a few days ago. In fact, I pointed her to the same direction I'm pointing you fellas at."

"See?" Terry confirmed his assumption towards Natsu, who seemingly is happy over this bit of news. "How about this guy?" Terry took out a picture of Reddrick Santos.

"I've seen that fella around the news lately," the bartender said. "But he never stumbled his way onto my bar, so I can't say for sure."

"Ah that's alright." Terry took out his wallet.

"Oh no need to pay me boys," the bartender told them. "You fixed my jukebox so they're on the house."

"Oh cool, thanks old man." Natsu happily put his wallet back as well as Terry.

"Come on Natsu," Terry got up from his seat and went straight towards the door. "We should continue our investiga-" Suddenly, Terry bumped into someone.

"Move it shorty!" A tall but brooding man stood in front of the door.

"You ok Terry?" Natsu went by Terry's side.

"Yeah I think so," Terry got himself up from the floor. "Hey man, what gives?" Terry exclaimed at the man.

"Watch who you're talking to shrimp." Another tall man came out, his fashion sense was that of a biker.

"Yeah, you're talking to the Viper's clan leader!" Another one came out, same attire.

"Viper's?" Both Natsu and Terry said at the exact same time.

"Yeah," the men seemingly dressed as bikers came in and started to make noise. "So if you know what's good for you, you better walk away now."

"Do these guys give you trouble, old man?" Natsu asked the bartender. He kept his mouth shut, knowing what was good for himself.

"Natsu, what are you thinking!?" Terry angrily whispered, frightened that Natsu might do something very stupid.

"Hey dumbass!" Natsu called out to the Viper's leader.

"YOU IDIOT!" Terry exclaimed at Natsu. "ARE YOU TRYING TO PROVOKE THEM!?"

"You have balls, I give you that tiny." The clan leader moved closer to the pair of mages.

"Are you harassing this man?" Natsu pointed at the bartender who then hid, he wanted no part in this.

"So what if I am?" The leader smirked.

"All the more reason to kick your ass." Natsu then blitzed the leader, landing a clear full thrown punch to the man's face, leaving him on the floor knocked out.

"Oh lord." Terry was shocked at Natsu's sucker punch.

"BOSS!" Both men went to their boss's aid.

"Natsu, why'd you do that?" Terry face palmed.

"The guy was an ass." Natsu said.

"That's it, you runts are getting it now!" The two men charged at them.

"Besides," Natsu then round housed kicked them both. With one kick, it knocked both men out. "I'm all fired up!"

More of the biker gang were just entering the building when Natsu was all done with the ones inside. "What the!?" The other men exclaimed. "Get them!" They all pounced at them. Before they knew it, they were all flown right back out.

"It's not that I'm helping you or anything," Terry said, going back to his normal stance after that kick. "But I still need your help."

"Well I think that's it," Natsu said towards Terry. "Let's vamoose outta here before more come."

"Gee, why didn't I think of that?" A hint of sarcasm surrounded Terry's voice.

Both seemingly ran out until they reached the edge of the town.

"Shit!" Terry yelled out, trying to catch his breathe.

"Now what?" Natsu panted as well.

"I forgot to leave Christi some sort of maker that we were there." Terry said.

"Well we kinda did leave a marker." Natsu said.

"What? No we didn't." Terry said.

"Yeah, the damn deadbeats that we beat up? You know? That kind of marker." Natsu told Terry.

"I suppose that should suffice then." Terry took a deep breathe.

The boys looked around, looking all over the foliage. "Where do you think the mines are at?" Natsu asked Terry.

Terry then instantly took out what seemed to be a compass. "Crap."

"What's wrong?" Natsu asked.

"Something is interfering with the compass's directionality," Terry put his compass back into his pocket. "We're kinda left with going with our gut now."

"What does your gut say then?" Natsu asked his opinion in which way Terry thought south was.

"Over there." He pointed at more foliage.

"Thank god," Natsu started walking. "My gut told me the same damn thing."

"Two guts are better than one, eh?" Terry chuckled.

"I suppose." The both started to wander off more into the forest, unknowing to them that they are being watched.

…

"Erza?" Reddrick entered her cell one more time.

"If you think that I'm going to talk now, you're wrong!" She yelled at him.

"I'm just here to tell you something," he stood right in front of her. "Do you know a pink headed man?"

Erza gasped, almost shivering at the words that Reddrick said to her. "…" She kept her mouth quiet, not revealing nothing to him.

"I thought so," Reddrick walked out once more. "Just so you know, one of my hellhounds spotted them not that far from here."

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" She yelled, surprising Reddrick.

"Oh," Reddrick laughed maniacally. "Do you care about this person? What if I were to hurt him right in front of you? Will you then talk?"

"Leave Natsu outta of this!" She yelled once more. "This is between you and me!"

"So that's his name," Reddrick can only smirk, making Erza angrier. "Natsu…"

"I MEAN IT!" Exhausted, Erza can no longer scream, the chains have took the majority of her magic, making her somewhat weak.

"Oh goodie, you have little to no magic now." Reddrick then went closer to Erza, relieving her of her chains.

Erza fell to her knees. She suddenly picked herself up, and tried to sucker punch Reddrick. "Gah!" Reddrick, without effort, seemingly catched her punch, hurting Erza.

"Now, now Erza," Reddrick twist her hand, hurting Erza more. "Be more lenient."

"Y-You son o-of a bi-" She was then kicked right in her face, flying towards the wall.

"Are you gonna tell me now?" Reddrick stood over Erza, putting his left foot over her face.

"AH!" She couldn't bare the pain inflicted on her.

"Or am I gonna have to torture your little pink headed friend to get you to talk?" Once again he laughed.

"I'm begging you…" Erza started crying, no longer can she hold off Reddrick's foot. "Don't get him involve."

"Are you finally gonna talk?" He added more pressure.

"But neither am I talking!" She still tried to resist.

"Then you leave me no choice." Reddrick seemingly raised his foot and kicked her once more, knocking her out cold.

…

"I'm telling you, we're lost, Terry!" Natsu laid back on a tree.

"We're not lost," Terry took out his compass once more, hoping to see if there was any more interference. "Besides, you even agreed that we were going the right way earlier!"

"That's until we became horrible lost!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Hold up," Terry still looked at his compass. "There's less interference here."

"Ok, so what does our compass tell us?" Natsu asked him.

"You were right," Terry closed his compass and concealed it in his pocket. "South was that way."

"Ha ha!" Natsu was fire up once more.

"But it's not like we're just gonna find it right away." Terry said.

"Oh really?" Natsu moved away the foliage, revealing the abandoned mine.

"I stand corrected." Both men moved towards it the entrance.

"Hold up," Natsu moved closer, picking up Erza's scent once more. "She's here!"

"Ok then, let's g-" Natsu then put his arm in front of Terry, telling him not to move. "What now?"

"There's somebody else in this cave as well." Natsu alerted him.

"You think it's Reddrick?" Terry asked Natsu.

"I don't know but we should be ca- LOOK OUT!" Natsu then grabbed Terry and both dodged what seemed to be some sort of an attack.

"Hello boys…"

**A/N:** This chapter is somewhat long, hope you enjoy. And no, I did not forget about the other's they'll be coming up shortly, I promise. Hopefully I'll be able to update again somewhere around this week again. See ya soon. Don't forget to leave a review. And sorry again for the cliffhanger.


	7. Chapter 7: The Long Awaited Reunion

"Hello boys," A menacing voice came from the cave, getting closer and closer until he revealed his face. "Welcome to the party."

"Reddrick!" Both Natsu and Terry said at the exact same time, while getting up from the blast they dodged.

"No hello? Rude much." Reddrick said, disappointed with his guests.

"Enough hellos," Terry said. "Were you the one that killed and injured the miners of Saturn Town?!"

"Party pooper," Reddrick scoffed, seemingly shrugging of Terry's words. "And yes, I killed the miners."

"Tch." Natsu scoffed, disliking Reddrick's honesty of the incident.

"You there," Reddrick then pointed at Natsu, surprising both men. "Your name is Natsu correct?"

"Y-You know my name?" Natsu somewhat felt uneasy at the sound of Reddrick knowing and calling his name for the very first time in their very first encounter.

Reddrick started walking towards them, then came to a stop near the cave's wall and leaned his back on it, folding his arms around his chest. He then looked only at Natsu, somewhat blocking out Terry. "Let's just say I beat a little birdie to tell me."

"_Beat a little birdie_?" Terry repeated his last words, somewhat frightened of what he was thinking. "Natsu, I don't like the sound of that…"

"Me neither," Natsu whispered back at Terry. "Who's the birdie?" Natsu asked Reddrick.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" He said menacingly, taunting Natsu.

"Tch, don't play with me!" Natsu yelled, readying his battle stance.

"Natsu, don't do anything rash," Terry advised Natsu before he took any type of action. "He's a lot stronger than the both of us, we'll have to strategize in order to beat him."

"Oi, stop the chattering over there." Reddrick somewhat interfered in their whispering conversation.

"Are you gonna tell me or not!?" Natsu said, furiously holding back his urge to fight. "Or am I gonna have to beat you to a pulp!?"

"Beat me to a pulp?" Reddrick, to their surprised, laughed. "You got jokes now, huh?"

"I'm not joking!" Natsu angrily said.

"Natsu…" Terry readied himself in case Natsu rushed into the battle.

"I know what I'm doing." Natsu reassured Terry.

"Come on now, you already know the answer to that, my dear ol' Natsu." Reddrick taunted him once again.

"No," Natsu couldn't think of Erza to lose to him. "She wouldn't be beaten that easily!"

"Ah, ah, ah, you're getting warmer." Reddrick pointed out.

"Natsu, I know it's hard to believe that but this guy," Terry somewhat kept his cool, explaining Reddrick's powers to Natsu. "He's very powerful as I said before."

"I can at least tell you that she is still alive," Reddrick finally got off the wall, walking towards them one more time. "But well? That's for you to find out."

"You freaking bastard!" Natsu could no longer restrain himself. He sprinted towards Reddrick and attacked. "**Crimson Fire Dragon Fist!" **Fire enveloped around his fists and threw the first punch. He continued his attack, rapidly hitting him more with his fierce fiery fists.

Natsu was surprised, Reddrick didn't even flinch not once throughout his barrage of fists, barely even making a mark on the guy. "Are you done?" Reddrick just stood, unphased.

"NATSU!" Terry ran towards Natsu, backing him up.

"B-But h-how?" Natsu panted, being exhausted from his attack.

Reddrick built up a dark aura, overwhelming both men. "You don't understand the power I wield, boy." Reddrick walked towards Natsu, now about to prepare his own counterattack.

"**Healing Arts: Bound**!" Terry said, enveloping a white aura over Reddrick, wrapping him.

"Tch." Reddrick was restrained by what seemed to be white rings over his body.

"Now come on Natsu, let's go find Erza while we have some time!" Terry grabbed Natsu, pulling him and running passed Reddrick, still being held by Terry's spell.

After some distance, Natsu stopped. "Hold up." He halted Terry.

"What the hell, we only have a few mo-"

"**Fire Dragon Roar**!" Fire came out of his mouth, destroying the above ceiling of the mine, blocking a path between them and Reddrick.

"Ok, that was pretty smart." Terry commented.

"Now we have more time," Natsu started running. "Let's go."

Reddrick, still standing where he was tied up, easily broke free of the magic. "Pathetic." He started his pursuit.

Natsu and Terry finally found the holding cells in the mines. "You take the ones on the left," Natsu walked over the left side of the mine. "You take the ones on the right."

"Got it." Terry was the first to open his door. Behind it revealed a bunch of bones of some of the miners that didn't make it.

Natsu was already a few doors in before Terry called him. "Natsu, I found her." Terry pointed at what was behind the door.

He quickly came to his side. He looked over and saw Erza, all bloodied and unconscious on the floor. "ERZA!" He called out, sprinting towards her side. "Erza, I'm here." He raised her head, putting it on his chest.

Erza started waking up, somewhat having blurred vision. She soon saw much clearer. "N-Natsu, y-you're okay." She teared up a little.

"It's ok," Natsu himself started tearing up. "I'm here." He pulled her closer, locking her in an embrace.

"That's all nice and what not but," Terry interrupted their reunion. "You do realize that there's a big, angry psychopath after us right?"

"I'm more along the lines of a sociopath," a familiar menacing voice entered the room, frightening the trio. They all slowly turned to look at the holding cell's entrance. "Hiya." He smirked.

"H-How'd you get the bound spell off!?" Terry was surprised at Reddrick's appearance.

"It was weak." Reddrick said.

"How about the rubble!?" Natsu said, giving his jacket to Erza to put on.

"There's another path," Reddrick told them. "Now, it will save me all the trouble of beating you up and putting you into one of the cells. So how about you surrender?"

"No." Both Natsu and Terry said.

"I'm literally covering your escape route," Reddrick laughed, telling them their options. "And you already know who'll win in a fight."

"**Fire**." Natsu filled his mouth with fire, readying his attack.

"Seriously? That's not gonna do jack to me!" Reddrick continued to laugh at their attempt to fight him.

"It's not for you." Terry weakly laughed.

"Eh? What are you-?"

"**Dragon Roar!**"

Back at Saturn Town, the market place was filled with people. All chattering and enjoying the day until they heard the loud explosion. They all stopped to look at the distant mountain, where their mines were located at, all huddled up, looking at the smoke that appeared on the side of the mountain.

The explosion was even heard from inside the bar where a few familiar faces heard as well. "You guys heard that right?" Gray said, looking at the bunch.

"Aye!" Happy said.

"You think that's one of the markers that your partner was gonna leave, Christi?" Lucy turned to look right next to herself, where Christi took the seat by.

"Probably but their usually very subtle." Christi answered.

"Yeah, like a bunch of knocked out guys in front of the place huh?" Gajeel remarked.

"That was probably Natsu," Wendy said. "We should go investigate."

"Yeah, what if they encountered trouble?" Levy suggested.

"Tch, with Natsu, there is always trouble." Pantherlily said.

"Not all the time." Carla tried defending Natsu.

"Juvia thinks we should go right now to investigate." Juvia again suggested what Wendy said towards Gray.

"Oi, old man." Gray called out to the bartender.

"Yeah, what's up?" The bartender answered.

"Where'd you say the mines were at?"

Back at the mines, Reddrick waved around his hand, clearing up the dirt and dust in the air. "Well would you look at that, they made themselves an exit route," He looked dumbfounded at the big hole inflicted inside the tunnel. He then whistled. "Oi, hellhounds, after them."

Over a short time, Natsu while carrying an unconscious Erza, and Terry ran a few miles. They made it to an open field where a bunch of boulders were around. At the edge of the open field was the start of another forest. They stopped and rested behind a tall tree. Natsu placed Erza on, letting her somewhat rest. "Phew," Natsu somewhat catched his breathe. "How did you know that attack wasn't for him?"

"I took a wild guess." Terry chuckled.

"I guess that's kind of funny." Natsu joined in on the laugh.

Suddenly, both men heard the howls of a deadly unknown hound to them, sending up chills on their backs. "H-His hellhounds…" Erza faintly said before going back to her slumber.

"What did you say Erza?" Natsu checked up on her.

"I think she just said hellhounds…" Terry had a somewhat glimmer of shock in his voice.

"Hellhounds? What the heck are those?" Natsu asked.

"According to legends, these mystical beasts are immune to magic based attacks, have hard skins and are ferociously strong," Terry explained. "To think Reddrick has these beasts…"

"So the only way to beat them is to, well, beat them up the old fashion way?" Natsu asked.

"The thing is," Terry explained what bothered him. "These beasts are hard to put down."

Suddenly, a dark engulfed, red eyed, spiked collared dog popped out of the bushes, attacking Terry. "GRUR!" It growled, biting Terry's arm.

"Shit!" Terry, with his other hand, punched the hellhound in its face, making it retreat back into the shadows.

"Over here Terry, we have to protect Erza!" Natsu told him. Terry quickly, with Natsu faced off against the dogs, fending them off.

Another jumped out of the bushes, this time attacking Natsu. "Piss off you damn dog!" With his quick reflexes, Natsu kicked the dog right in the face, sending it flying back into the bushes.

Another attacked Terry. "This is why I hate dogs!" Terry, like Natsu, kicked the dog back into the bushes as well.

This time, both dogs, much faster than before, attacked simultaneously. "Shit!" One of the dogs bit Natsu in the leg, latching itself and not letting go anytime soon. "Get off!"

The other hellhound bit Terry again in the arm, inflicting more pain. "AH!" Terry tried punching it in the face, but like Natsu, it latched on him.

Another appeared, this time attacking Erza. "ERZA, LOOK OUT!" Natsu cried out, still trying to take off the dog. No use, Erza was still unconscious. "ERZA!"

The dog pounced, almost attacking until someone else appeared. "**Ice-Make: Hammer!**" An ice imitation of a hammer hit the dog before it got closer, sending it back into the bushes.

"Gray?" Natsu was surprised to see his teammate.

"If anybody is gonna beat up the Salamander, it's gonna be me!" Gajeel also appeared, kicking the dog off of Natsu.

"Thanks!" Natsu thumbs upped Gajeel, thanking him for the assistance.

From underneath Terry, reformed Juvia from the puddle, attacking the dog off of Terry. "Juvia does not like it when animals attack my friends." She said.

"Thanks." Terry thanked her, then looked over his badly damaged arm.

"TERRY!" His partner, Christi called him, running towards him and hugging him.

"Hey Christi," Terry somewhat was at ease when he saw his partner. "Now can you get off of me, my arm is badly hurt."

"Oh sorry." She quickly got off, and tended to his wounds.

The rest of the team, Wendy, Lucy and the Exceeds appeared. "Natsu are you alright?" Out of all the Exceeds, Happy ran towards his partner, Natsu.

"Yeah," Natsu greeted him. "The dogs didn't bit that hard enough to make me bleed."

"That's good." Lucy stood right next to Natsu.

"Oi, Wendy, Lucy, you should go check up on Erza, she's the one badly beaten." Natsu pointed at Erza, leaning on the tree.

"Got it!" Both girls said.

"I'll help." Christi said, just about finishing up the bandages for Terry's arm.

"What the hell Natsu." Gray seemingly angry, said towards Natsu.

"What?" Natsu, somewhat angry at Gray's tone.

"Why is she badly beaten!?" Enraged at the condition of his comrade.

"She was like that when we found her." Terry answered that part of Gray's question.

"And you are?" Gray turned to look at Terry.

"Terry. Terry Mateo." He took out his hand in hopes of a handshake.

"Oh right, the guy Christi kept talking about." Gray somewhat apologized.

"So?" Gajeel asked.

"So what?" Both Natsu and Terry asked Gajeel.

"Who beat her up like that?"

"Reddrick Santos." Terry said.

"Is that the guy we're supposed to apprehend?" Christi said, still helping Lucy and Wendy tend to Erza's wounds.

"Yeah." Terry said.

"Why is she naked?" Lucy asked the boys.

"Is how we found her," Natsu said. "I gave her my jacket to at least cover herself."

"Geez, what did that guy do to her…?" Lucy murmured to herself.

"She was being tortured for information." Terry assumed.

"God that must be awful." Carla said, standing next to Wendy.

"Wait did you guys kill the hellhounds?" Natsu asked Gajeel, Gray and Juvia.

Suddenly growling came from behind the bushes, getting louder and louder. "Come on, surround the girls and protect them!" Terry exclaimed.

Gajeel, Gray, Natsu, Terry, Juvia and Pantherlily formed around the girls tending to Erza's wounds and the other two Exceeds. They were ready, waiting for the dogs to come out and attack.

**A/N: **Hope you like this chapter. And I probably won't update for the rest of the week. It's kind of a busy schedule. Hopefully I'll be able to update. Anyways enjoy. And don't forget to leave a review if you will.


	8. Chapter 8: Hellhounds Part 1

Rain started pouring down on the group, making it somewhat hard for them to hear the dogs readying their next attack. From a far a thunderbolt struck down on the Earth, almost at the exact time the hellhounds revealed themselves to the defenders.

There were at least 6 them all together, growling at them. Their red bloodshot eyes stared at the group, not even blinking once. Their bodies, shrouded in mystical black, were somewhat intimidating towards them.

"So what's the plan?" Gray said just as another thunderbolt hit from a far.

"Well, hellhounds are immune to magic based attacks," Terry said, thinking of another way to combat them. "I don't think their immune to physical base magic, since you were able to hurt one of them with your Ice Make magic."

"So only physical based magic?" Gajeel pummeled his fist into his other hand, turning his skin into metal. "**Iron Dragon Scales!**"

"My fire isn't going to last that long in this rain." Natsu looked at the cloud covered sky, wiping away the rain that fell on to his forehead.

"Those dogs would attack any second, I urge us to be cautious." Pantherlily readied his sword.

"Juvia has an advantage here," Juvia reached out with her hands, casting one of her spells. "**Water Dome**." Her spell engulfed the rest of the team aiding Erza, in a water like shield. "Only way they're getting through that is they defeat me."

"That's some good thinking there Juvia." Gray somewhat appraised her.

"You think so Gray-sama?" Juvia's eyes were now enveloped in hearts, liking the way Gray appraised her, even if it was for something as little as protecting Erza.

"Can we like focus here?" Terry said, getting the team's attention towards the hellhound's right in front of them.

"Right." Both the ice mage and the water mage said, agreeing in focusing on the mutts.

"Are they just gonna stand there?" Gajeel was somewhat irritated. He cringed his teeth, and his body was itching for the battle to begin.

Their growling and somewhat hiss like echoed in the air, along with the droplets of rain falling from the sky and the loud echoes of thunder striking onto the Earth, quaking and shaking the ground around them. One last thunder hit, and the hellhounds attacked, one by one.

"Shit," Gray reacted quickly to the mutts speed. "These fuckers are faster than before."

Another pounced towards them, aiming for Natsu. "Tch, haven't you had enough of biting me in the leg!?" Natsu kicked it back to its crew.

"On your left kid!" Gajeel told Terry, as he hit another hellhound.

"Thanks." With his quick reflexes and Gajeel telling him, he was able to dodge the hellhound's evasive attack, punting it in the face, making it retreat back to its other members of the pack.

"Why won't these fucking dogs die!?" Pantherlily threw another hellhound.

"Their physique is much more different than that of an actual dog," Terry said, dodging another one of the hellhound's attack. "They're much stronger- On your left, Natsu!"

"Wha- FUCK!" Natsu was then bitten by the dog once more, this time it started glowing. "I-It's absorbing my magic!" He was then weakened until Gajeel hit the dog off of him, making the dog yelp before it hit the ground.

The hellhound dispersed into dust before disappearing altogether into the dust. "Well that's new to me." Terry said, being somewhat dumbfounded at the new information that laid in front of us.

"I'm not sure how to tell you this Terry but I'm freaking bleeding here!" Natsu held on to his bite mark wound that was inflicted on him, still fending off the other dogs.

"Cover." Terry patted Gajeel on his back, moving closer to Natsu.

"**Healing Arts: Restore**." Terry casted his spell over Natsu. With the spell, his wound closed immediately and restored his fatigued.

"Woah," Natsu was slightly surprised about the spell. "Wait, why didn't you do this with Erza?"

Another dog pounced at them, but was quickly dealt with, making it the second the dog out of commission. "I'll tell you right after we're done with this." Terry panted, seemingly more exhausted than before he executed his spell.

"Right." Natsu agreed on those terms.

"**Ice Make: Hammer**!" Gray recasted his spell once more, knocking out another dog into dust.

"Three to go." Pantherlily said, helping Gajeel out with the next hellhound.

"Make that 2." Juvia fixed the Exceed's statement, knocking out another hellhound back into dust.

"Gihi." Gajeel, with his iron coated skin, knocked the hellhound back to a tree, making it yelp and dispersing it into its dark mystic cloud.

"Weren't there 6 of them!?" Natsu exclaimed, looking around there surrounding area.

"Yeah, I counted 6 as well." Gray looked intently at the surroundings as well.

"You girls ok?" Terry asked them.

"Yeah we're fine over." Lucy answered.

"Why is the bubble like shield still over them?" Pantherlily turned to look at Juvia.

"That dog is still out there," Juvia was just being cautious at the moment. "Juvia feels if she takes down the water dome, the dog will come out and attack Juvia's friends."

"That's pretty well thought out," Gajeel somewhat was impressed. "Clever, rain girl."

"We shouldn't just be standing here like a bunch of maroons." Terry told the group.

"_Maroons_?" Gray sweat dropped on the remark of being called a color.

"Y-You guys never watched Looney Tunes?" Terry scratched his head, somewhat confused that nobody got his insult.

"Never heard of it," Natsu said. He then turned to look at Erza, still laying down unconscious. "Is she all alright?"

"She'll be fine." Levy said, putting some bloodied bandages in her bag.

"Yeah, we managed to cover the majority of scratches inflicted on her," Lucy said to Natsu, somewhat reassuring him. "Christi here, healed the majority of her wounds."

"Yeah," Christi said. "The guy that inflicted all the injuries really took his time."

"I know, he's gonna pay for this." Natsu just kept looking at Erza, feeling somewhat guilty that he found her like that.

"You do realize that he'll wreck your shit like he did earlier?" Terry reminded Natsu of he's futile attempt earlier.

"I don't care, I'm gonna kick his ass!" Natsu exclaimed, startling not only Terry but the rest of his team.

"Geez, I never once seen you get worked up over something like this." Gray commented, leaving a somewhat valid point.

"So what about that other dog? You know the one that is still walking around?" Gajeel pointed out, getting the offensive team to focus once again.

"Right, we should be careful." Pantherlily told them.

"What's it gonna do? It's only one dog." Christi said.

Suddenly, the growls of the remaining dog were heard, walking out of the bushes it hid. This one was different from the others they fought. This one grew more, almost the size of an elephant. "… You had to freakin' jinx it, Christi…" Terry facepalmed.

"… sorry." She said, still behind Juvia's water dome spell along with the other girls.

The hellhound emitted a dark aura over its body, its red eyes just looked over them, observing them move, preparing themselves to defend the unconscious Erza once more. "Grrrr…." It growled menacingly, making the team somewhat uneasy.

"So… any plans there, Terry?" Gray turned to look at Terry, sort of hoping he did.

"I don't," Terry could only stare at the hellhound, almost as if he was seeing into a dark abyss. "I really don't have a plan."

"I really hate to say this but," Gray then turned to look at Natsu, which to his surprised, puzzled him. "Do you have a plan, Natsu?"

"Are you really asking me that?" Natsu was shocked to hear those words from Gray, he usually never listens to his plans, and even he had one.

"I'm literally all ears right about now." Gray turned to look at the hellhound once more, still in its place it came out from.

"Hell with it," Gajeel marched up to it. "You know what they say; _the bigger they are, the harder they FALL_!" And with that Gajeel leapt at it and hit it right in the face.

The hellhound only grinned, head-butting Gajeel right back to his group. "GAH!" He yelled as he was pushed back.

His friends went right by his side, getting him back up. "You ok there?" Terry said, lending him a hand.

"Yeah," Gajeel grunted. "That thing's skin is freaking strong as fuck!" He said, still feeling the numbness on his right hand. "The thing also easily head-butted me as well."

"I know, we saw right with our eyes." Terry looked back at the hellhound, just walking back and forth in its same position, almost mocking them.

"Juvia feels as if we should retreat," Juvia suggested. "Well at least some of us should."

Natsu looked back, looking straight at Erza, concerned for her safety. "I think the girls should go." Natsu spoke out his mind.

"I was thinking the same thing." Gray said.

"Us men should stay behind," Gajeel said. "At least long enough for them to get out of here."

"How are they gonna take Erza?" Terry asked.

"I have someone that'll help," Lucy then took one of her celestial keys and summoned one of them. "Leo, I summon you." The key glowed, taking out who seemed to be an old teammate.

"'Sup guys," Leo said as he emerged from the other world. "Whoa, why are we under a bubble? And why is there a huge ass dog right in front of us!?"

"No time to explain," Lucy grabbed Leo from the arm, showing him Erza. "You need to help us pickup Erza, take her somewhere safely."

"Got it." Leo picked her up bridal style.

"You should go too Juvia." Gray told Juvia.

"W-What?" She asked, sort of confused.

"You heard me." He grabbed her by the shoulders, looking straight at her face, insisting her to go with them. Juvia nodded, understanding why he wanted her to go with them.

Juvia's water dome was dispersed, letting the others ready to leave the battlefield. The hellhound tilted its head, wondering what the group was doing. It only tried to observe them, watching their every move. "See you." Leo, carrying Erza, was the first one to go on ahead.

Behind him, followed Lucy, then Wendy. The hellhound just growled on, knowing enough that the other group was leaving. "GRRR!" It growled pouncing toward Levy.

It was then stopped, munching on what seemed to be iron. "Can it dog, she may be small but she ain't no dog treat," Gajeel, with the help of Pantherlily, held the dog preventing it from going any further. "Gihi. Go now shrimp."

"A little present from me," Levy casted her spell. "**Solid Script: Iron! Solid Script: Fire!**"

A big chunk of iron fell next to Gajeel, contempt with the "gift" Levy left her. And floating fire next to Natsu, also was contempt with what he received. "Go now." Gajeel told her, watching her as she disappeared into the same woods the others left to.

"Natsu!" Happy called out, somewhat already in tears raising his finger, boosting Natsu's morality.

"Hehe," Natsu did the same, walking towards the hellhound, helping Gajeel and Gray restrain it. He turned to look at his feline friend, smiling. "Go take care of Erza for me. I got this."

"Hmpht!" Happy took out his wings and began to fly, going into the woods racing towards his friends.

Natsu turned back and raced towards the hellhounds back, grabbing one of the beast's hind leg in hopes of restraining it

"Go now Christi," Terry told her, still there, standing out in the open. "I'll be able to take care of this with them."

"O-Ok." She almost teared, walking towards the woods to catch up.

"Why are you crying?" He stopped her in her tracks.

"Yo, Terry might want to hurry that up-UGH!" Natsu, helping Gajeel, sort of taming the beast from going after them but are simply being pushed aside.

"Just… Just don't die." Christi said, wiping a tear from her cheek.

"I won't," Terry assured her, winking at her. "I promise." He raised his hand and thumbs her up.

"Thanks." She now ran, trying to catch up with the others.

Terry turned, looking at the other four. Natsu holding down one leg, Gray rapidly hitting it with his Ice-Make magic, Gajeel restraining one of its front legs, and Pantherlily hitting the dog in the face with his iron sword. "I'm coming guys." He ran towards them, jumped right in front of the shadowy beast and casted on of his spells. "**Healing Arts: Strength Amplify**!" His hands and arms got buff, growing at least twice as much in size, hitting the dog in the face, sending it somewhat farther away.

"Nice muscles." Natsu commented, wiping away sweat from his forehead.

"Can it," Terry said. All the men and cat were in some type of formation, Terry being in the middle, Natsu and Gray being on his right and Gajeel and Pantherlily on his left. "Ok guys, we're not just fighting for our life's now, we're fighting for our loved ones as well." Terry started a somewhat morality speech. "And we will not fall and neither are we about to fail, so let's do it!"

"Eh, your speech needs a little work there buddy." Gray said.

"Agreed." Natsu sided with Gray on that.

"Oh come on guys, it's better than nothing." Terry tried defending his speech.

"You know what's not better than nothing?" Gajeel asked.

"What?" The rest of the team asked.

"Not fighting this huge ass dog." He said.

The dog was getting back up, still surprised that he was pushed back this far. "GRRR! RUFF!" It growled and howled at them, preparing to attack.

"Now guys, let's do it!"

**A/N:** Finally. I had some writers block for a while but I was able to finish this chapter. And I probably would've finished faster if I didn't have a headache. Anyways, hope you like it so far. Don't forget to leave a review now. I'll update in the next few days. It's gonna be busy a bit this week due to my sister graduating. So see ya later.


	9. Chapter 9: Hellhounds Part 2

The 4 mages and the Exceed charged at the Hellhound, attacking all at once. "GRRR." It growled, bending its hind legs and attacked as well, defending itself.

As both sides collided, Natsu and the group were all staggered back as well as the hellhound. "Shit, this dog is tougher than I had anticipated." Terry said, getting back on his feet along with the others.

"We've noticed," Natsu said, wiping away the dirt from his face. "Got any other plans besides just charging at it and hoping we actually get a hit?"

The hellhound got itself up, back on its legs and readied its next attack. "Better think of that plan fast because that dog is coming back!" Gajeel pointed at the dog ahead of them.

The hellhound made its way to their proximity and attacked the first person they saw. "**Ice Make: Shield**!" Gray casted an ice like shield, holding off the dog's ferocious bite. "N-Need… Help… H-Here!" The ice-mage struggled to fend off the dogs attack.

"Hold on to that question you have right there Natsu," Terry went to go help Gray, jumping on the hellhound and holding on to it. "Stop… that… you… overgrown… mutt!" The hellhound released the shield and it's now flailing around the field, trying to get Terry off of him.

The rest of the team gathered once more and attacked the hellhound's legs, hoping they get at least immobilize one of its legs. "AHHH!" They shouted. Natsu and Gajeel handled its hind legs while Gray and Pantherlily handled its front.

The hellhound was still flailing around with the added weight of the team. "Why is it still moving!?" The Exceed said, trying to hold on to its leg.

"This fucking dog is fucking strong, that's why!" Gajeel grunted, barely holding on to its left leg. Within minutes, the hellhound managed to kickoff Natsu and Gajeel then followed Gray and Pantherlily. Terry was the only one left.

The hellhound jumped high, surprising the exhausted team that laid on the floor. As it was about to land, it went on its back, endangering Terry who still was trying to hold on. "Shit!" He yelled. The mystical beast crash landed on its back.

"TERRY!" Natsu yelled out to his comrade. He and the hellhound were still under the impression of the dust that surrounded them.

The air soon cleared, revealing the hellhound rolling around and getting back on his feet. It checked its spot, seeing if Terry was around. "Looking for me you damn mutt?" Terry said. Upon hearing the mage, the hellhound turned around, seeing the mage was back on his feet and ready to fight.

"Jesus Christ, Terry," Natsu and the rest quickly went to the mage's side. "You had me worried there for a second."

"Sorry about that," Terry cracked his knuckles. "Anyways, I think I managed to find a weak spot."

"Tch, figures." Gajeel smirked.

"Well? What's its weak spot?" Gray tried to spit it out of Terry.

"It's stomach." Terry answered.

"It's stomach?" Pantherlily was slightly skeptical about it.

"Yeah," He added more his answer. "As I was holding on to its back, I noticed that its stomach didn't have much body armor like it has around it. This somewhat lead me to conclude that it's vulnerable spot is there."

"Now the question is," Natsu and the rest looked at the hellhound, who seemingly just stared at them with its red menacing eyes. "How are we gonna let him roll for us?"

"That's where my plan comes in." Terry grinned.

"Oh now you have a plan?" Gray turned to face Terry, hoping to hear his plan.

"What? Planning takes some serious time you know?" Terry wiped his face, taking off the sweat that dropped from his cheek.

"Well then let's hear it." Gajeel was all ears.

"It's kind of risky though." Terry warned them.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, how dangerous?" Natsu asked Terry to rate.

"You can't scale danger." Terry said.

"Just pick a number, and quick because I don't like the way that freaking dog is eyeing at me." Pantherlily exclaimed, looking at the beast ahead of them.

"A 9 I suppose," Terry picked the first number that appeared in his head. "Gonna need your full cooperation here, Pantherlily."

"Pantherlily? Why do you need my cat?" Gajeel asked.

"Wait you're his owner?" Terry said to Gajeel.

"I don't like to be referred to a pet." Pantherlily remarked.

"We're practically partners." Gajeel smiled at the Exceed, also returning the smile back.

"Then I'm guessing you're not gonna be a fan of this plan." Terry commented.

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Gajeel said, somewhat troubled with Terry's plan.

"Just spill it already." Gray hurried him, watching with one eye at the dog and the other at them.

"Basically, we're gonna have to shove this cat," Terry pointed at Pantherlily. "Down that things throat." He then pointed back at the hellhound.

"That sounds crazy." All the men, excluding Pantherlily, said.

"Sounds more like suicide," Pantherlily said. "My type of mission."

"You're not seriously thinking of actually doing that!?" Gajeel grabbed his Exceed by his shoulders, both of them making eye contact.

"I see no other option!" Pantherlily shrugged off Gajeel.

"I see an option," Gajeel said, now making eye contact with the beast. "I say we just hit him very hard in the stomach! He said earlier that it didn't have none of that armor on its belly."

"Aye, I did say that but," Terry explained. "The thing is gonna be more cautious from here on out, seeing as I was able to piss it off more since I climbed up on its back and refused to get off of it."

"Tch." Gajeel grunted.

Pantherlily reverted back to his normal size and went by Gajeel's side. "I gonna need a dagger, a small one at it," he said to his partner. "Can you make me one?"

"Sure," Gajeel was still pretty pissed. "But I'm not doing this for the damn plan, I'm doing this for my pal."

Pantherlily nodded at the notion. "I don't suppose this can be hurried no?" Gray asked, sort of interrupting their moment.

"And why is that?" Gajeel had already made the hilt part of the dagger.

"Because," the ground starting shaking. The hellhound was already commencing its counter-attack. "That is coming!"

The Hellhound was now in between the group, splitting them up from both of its sides. It quickly turned, hitting Gray and Natsu with its tail, bouncing them back to a certain distance. "Damn dog!" Natsu tried shrugging off its attack.

"Look out!" Terry told Gajeel. In time, Gajeel was able to dodge the dog's next attack, along with his Exceed.

"Here!" Gajeel was finally done in making the iron dagger for the small Exceed. He gave the Exceed the dagger, putting it in his hand like paw.

"Thanks," Pantherlily gripped it hard, not letting it go. "Now how do I manage to actually go through his mouth without actually getting munched on?" He asked his partner.

"Leave that to me," Gajeel then turned his skin back to his iron-metal form. He started to walk towards the hellhound. "Hey, you dumb fucking dog, come over here!" He yelled, provoking it.

"What's the idiot doing?" Terry asked Pantherlily who was now by his side.

"Just watch." Pantherlily answered.

The hellhound, now more pissed than ever, hurdled towards Gajeel. It opened its mouth and proceeded to crunch on Gajeel, unfortunately, Gajeel had something else planned. Without much, he held the mutt's mouth open, holding the top with his hands and the bottom with his feet. "How 'bout you munch on this, you stupid canine!" Gajeel struggled with holding its jaw open.

The hellhound was about to use his paw until Natsu held on to it. Gray held on to the other. Both help stall the hellhound from attacking Gajeel. "Gr-gr!" It can hardly growl at them.

"You know, why don't I just break your neck?" Gajeel then tried to move the top of the mouth more. Realizing what Gajeel was doing, the hellhound exerted more strength to its mouth, overcoming Gajeel's own strength. "Shit! Never mind, I think you prove-proved you-your point!" He continue to struggle with the beast's strength.

"Any time now!" Gajeel yelled at both Terry and Pantherlily.

"Ready?" Terry asked Pantherlily, grabbing him like a football.

"Ready." Pantherlily was then thrown into the beast's mouth, moving easily through its throat and proceeding to its internal organs.

Gajeel finally let loose the beast's mouth. "Your breath freakin' stinks!" Gajeel tried wiping the invisible gas from his face.

With Gajeel's last comment, the hellhound became more furious, flailing around and throwing both Natsu and Gray off of him. "GRRR! RUFF!" It charged at Gajeel in its deranged mode.

"Oh fuck." Gajeel said to himself, knowing he was screwed.

"Gajeel! Turn back to your damn iron mode or whatever the hell you call it!" Terry called out to him, suggesting him transform.

"NO TIME!" He yelled back, dodging the hellhound's attacks. "HURRY UP PANTHERLILY!"

The Exceed, with the use of the dagger, started cutting its major arteries and organs as such. "I've already cut its intestines and its kidneys! Why isn't he down already!?" He looked around and saw its beating heart. The size of the heart was no bigger than Lily's own head. "Ok, this should do the trick…"

Gajeel was then on the ground, being held back by the Hellhound's paw. "Whatever you're doing Pantherlily, do it now!" He yelled.

"AH!" The Exceed stabbed the beast's heart.

With the last action done on the beast's internal organs, it fell before it managed to hurt Gajeel, laying dying on the ground. The others rushed over to Gajeel's aide. "Tough fucker." Gajeel got himself up, patting on himself to shake off the dirt that was on him.

"OI, GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Pantherlily yelled from inside the beast's stomach.

"**Iron Dragon's Sword**!" His hand turned into a jagged like iron sword, and easily cut through the beast's stomach. Pantherlily, along with the beast's internal organs came out. "Gihi."

"Whoa, those organs are huge." Natsu said, coming along with the other 2 mages by his side.

"I know," Pantherlily then showed the other mages the Hellhound's heart. "His heart is the size of my damn head!"

"God damn." Gray commented on it.

"We should catch up with the other-"

Suddenly, an explosion from miles away occurred, startling the men and interrupting Terry's sentence. "Holy shit!" Gajeel and rest looked up at the sky, looking at the size of the grey smoke.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" Terry said.

"Let's go before more of those explosions occur." Natsu said, sprinting into the same woods the ladies went through.

"Right behind you."

…

_25 minutes earlier…_

The girls were still running, hoping they managed to get a few feet away from the men's' battle against the mythical beast. "How much longer do we run!?" Loki, being the one in the front while carrying Erza, stopped and turned to look at his comrades.

"I think we managed to get far enough." Lucy now stopped herself.

The others made it to them, regrouping once more. "We should continue, Juvia thinks the space between us and them is still pretty close." Juvia suggested to the group.

"I agree on that." Carla said, being on Wendy's head.

"Right then." As a group, they all continued for several minutes. Upon their moving around, they finally made it to yet another plain field that looked exactly like the first one they stumbled on except, a small mountain overlooked it from the side and across from it laid a raging river.

"I don't like this place…" Levy said, expressing how she felt about the place.

"It feels to exposing right?" Christi second that notion.

"It feels somewhat tense around here…" Wendy added more to their dismay.

They continued walking, making it halfway through the field. "Hello there!" A voice said, startling the group. They looked at the mountain and at top, someone overlooked.

The mysterious person swooped down, making an entrance of a sort. "R-Reddrick…" Erza lowly said, finally coming back to consciousness.

"Erza, you ok?" Lucy asked, concerned for her friend.

"You sure you want me to put you down?" Loki asked Erza who was getting up from his arms. "You still look weak."

"I'm fine." Erza was able to walk on her feet again, regaining some of her strength back.

"And sleeping beauty awakes," Reddrick said, laughing maniacally. "Ready for round 2?"

"Tch, as if I can fight you." Erza struggled to keep her balance. Lucy saw how she struggled about and quickly came to the redhead's aid.

"Erza, you can still barely help," she said, putting Erza's hand around the back of her neck, helping her stay a foot. "Let me help you."

"Aww, that's nice," Reddrick mocked them. "Anyways, so nobody loses a finger or anything, surrender."

"We'll never surrender to the likes of you." Christi said, refusing Reddrick's 'offer.'

"Oh I remember you." Reddrick looked at the orange head, Christi.

"What's he talking about Christi?" Levy asked her.

"He… He killed my father…" Christi said, revealing her secret to the gang.

"Ah yes, how's your mother?" He continued to press Christi's buttons. "If I remember correctly, I cut of her arm."

"You son of a-" Christi was in a fugue state, luckily however, Wendy, Levy and Carla restrained her back. "I'll kill you!"

"Ah, ah, ah! Revenge is never the answer." He still mocked her, making her more pissed than ever.

"What exactly do you want?" Lucy continued the conversation.

He then pointed at Erza. "I want her."

"Well, Juvia says you're not getting her." Juvia stood in the line of sight between Lucy &amp; Erza and Reddrick.

"None of us are giving her to you!" Lucy rephrased Juvia's sentence.

"Wait a minute," Reddrick looked back at Juvia, puzzled of what she said earlier. "Did you just referred to yourself in third person?"

"Really? You're out here, waiting for us to initiate a battle and you're asking that type of question!?" Loki couldn't believe that Reddrick wasn't taking them seriously.

"It's a serious question," Reddrick said, crossing his arms around his chest. "Besides, not often do you meet a person like her."

"Juvia is unsure whether to take your statement as a compliment or as a complaint." Juvia said, confused at what Reddrick was getting that.

"How 'bout neither?" Suddenly, Reddrick appeared right in front of Juvia which shocked the others.

"JUVIA!" The ladies called out.

Reddrick swung his fist and to his surprise, did not affect her. "Well would you look at that," he flailed his arm inside Juvia's water body. "Your body is made out of water."

"**Water Nebula**!" Juvia yelled out casting her water magic that send Reddrick back to his earlier position.

"You are full of surprises aren't you?" Reddrick said, wiping away the remaining water on him.

"Be careful Juvia," Erza said, still being standing tall thanks to Lucy's help. "He's a lot stronger than that." She then coughed, still somewhat spilling out blood.

"Juvia will be fine." Juvia reassured Erza.

She then started to walk towards Reddrick, intimidating him. "You got lucky kid." Reddrick said.

"**Water Slicer**!" Juvia casted her scythe like pressurized water, hitting Reddrick head on.

The smoke cleared and Reddrick came out unharmed. "There was this saying before," Reddrick walked towards Juvia, who was surprised that he came out unscathed. "_Water is your friend, not your enemy_." He said, hitting her water body once more.

"Your physical attacks won't hurt me Juvia." Juvia said to him.

"Then how 'bout this," Reddrick's hand started to glow, surprising the group. "**Dark Arts: Black Bolt**." His hand emitted a dark lightning shocking Juvia's body.

"AHHHH!" She yelled in agony.

"Juvia!" The others called out to her.

"Get. Away. From. Her!" Loki went to Juvia's aide, hitting Reddrick in the face with his fist. Sadly, no damage was done.

Reddrick, with his other hand, raised it towards Loki's stomach and simply, with 2 fingers, flicked him back to the others. "Ah, ah, ah, wait your turn."

Loki landed near Lucy and Erza, holding on to his stomach which was inflicting him with a lot of pain. "Shit! Nngh! I think… he broke a rib…" He panted.

Juvia still screamed in agony, her body couldn't take more of the electrical current that is coursing through her body. "AHHHH!"

Suddenly, Christi was finally let loose, going towards Reddrick and hitting him. Hard. Sending him back to the mountainside. "You bastard, get away from her." She yelled out.

Juvia fell to the floor, the electrical current still had some affect to her. "Juvia… _ZZZZZ_…. Is… Okay." She panted.

"I'm impressed," Reddrick came out of the smoke, fixing his jaw. "You actually managed to hurt me. Who knew you packed a lot of strength into that punch." He commented on her. "Killing your father and incapacitating your mother must have filled you a lot with strength, I see."

Christi now grew more furious than ever, hearing him talk about her parents like that. "You bastard," she then held her hands together, emitting a yellow light from them. "I will kill you."

"So what? You got one lucky punch in? Is that supposed to be all you got?" Reddrick continued to mock Christi. "I. Am. Still. STANDING! You're gonna have to do a lot better than that!"

Christi then threw the yellow light at Reddrick, hitting him in the chest area, startling him. "**Exploding Art: Heavy Grenade**." She mumbled

"Oh shi-" The yellow light then shined over him, causing an enormous explosion, sending Christi and the others back.

**A/N: **Hope you like this chapter. See ya'll later with the next update, it'll probably (I hope) in the next 2 or 3 days. Anyways, enjoy.


	10. Chapter 10: You're not taking Erza!

**Author's Note: I AM NOT DEAD YET! Sorry for the long wait. Lots of things came up before I was able to finish this chapter. And thank you all for being patient, I appreciate it. I really do. Now story time….**

"Jesus Christ!" Cried the small wind dragon slayer as she and the rest of the crew were almost blown away from the recurring explosion's aftermath. Along with the rest of them, she covered her face with her arms, trying to block the dusts and smoke from the explosion. The floor beneath them cracked, splitting the entire prairie lands into bits and pieces.

"**Solid Script: Storm!**" Suddenly, Levy casted her magic to counter the explosion's strong wind currents. The letters that made up Air appeared combining with each other to form a tornado like storm, bashing the combination of dust, rock, and smoke back to the source.

On their side of the field, the smoke, dirt and ashes stopped coming to their side, only still appearing on the sole enemy's side of the field. "That was a massive explosion!" The celestial spirit, Leo, astonishingly looked at all the smoke in front of him.

"There's… no way… he could've… survived that!" Christi heavily panted, exhausted from exerting much of her magic into her attack. Weakened, she couldn't keep herself up and fell back to the ground face first.

"Christi!" The other mages cried out to her. Out of all of them, Juvia and Levy went by her side. Lucy still held onto the bandaged Erza and Wendy was with both the blue and white Exceeds.

"I'M ALRIGHT!" Christi suddenly stood up by herself stretching her arms out as a way to signal both bluenettes that she was ok. "I'm just… a bit… winded… that's all." She still panted.

The two girls were still behind her in case she caved in to her fatigueness. Juvia turned back to look at her friends. Everybody seemed fined, just a bit shakened up a bit from the explosion. Lucy still held Erza with the help of her celestial spirit and Wendy was just there sitting on one of the slab of stone sticking out from under the ground and talking to the Exceeds, checking for injuries. "We shouldn't… keep our… eyes… away from the smoke…" Christi interrupted Juvia's train of thought.

"She's right you know." A menacing voice from inside the smoke called out. Red menacing eyes glared at them, making them gulp down their spits in fear. Reddrick cleared out the smoke with little to no gestures. From the looks of it, he seemed to have had no damage done to him except for his brown leather jacket.

"YOU COULDN'T HAVE SURVIVED THAT!" Christi yelled at the man.

"Well boohoo," he mocked her pleas and cries. "But that was a surprising attack there, not even one of the saint wizards I assassinated put up this much of a fight!" He complimented her in a way he made them feel like ants.

"…Bastard…" She said lowly to herself.

"You all think that you can still take me on?" He started to walk towards them slowly.

Still somewhat spread out but not too far from each other, Christi, Juvia and Levy quickly got back with the rest of the gang behind them, trying to still be far from the menace. WE'RE NOT HANDING YOU ERZA!" Lucy loudly said, startling her friends and Reddrick who can only give a small glimpse of an annoyed face.

"Lucy…" Erza looked at her blonde friend that still carried her.

"Tch, figures." He stopped, locking himself in a position that was at least still meters away from them.

"We've got to at least stall him until the guys get here…" Levy lowly said to the group.

"How?" Christi spoke on the same level of tone as the other mage. "I'm barely have any energy, Juvia is still wounded from the electricity attack from earlier, Lucy is carrying around Erza, the spirit barely managed to keep up with him and we have a kid with 2 cats."

"Technically, we're exceeds." Happy corrected. To Christi's annoyance, she could only give the Exceed a rather disappointed face from the correction.

"HEY! I CAN"T HEAR YOU GUYS!" Reddrick suddenly brought their attention back to him. "All that secrecy won't help you, you know?"

"Tch." Juvia said, annoyed at the man's arrogance.

"How about you I give you a proposition?" Reddrick was at it again with his so called agreements.

"We're not giving you Erza, you dimwit!" Leo said, now in front of the group.

"Oh but you haven't heard what I was offering yet." He chuckled about.

"What? Our lives?" Christi assumed much.

"See? We do understand each other," He clapped. "So, how about it? Erza's life for your own."

"These people aren't that selfish!" Christi spoke up. "Sure, they're pretty beat up and exhausted but…" She stopped for a bit, looking at her newly found friends. "If it's one thing I know, they're not going to give up her friend!"

"Huh," Reddrick sighed in annoyance. Normally, a lot of people would've agreed with this, then again, they're dead too. "Well then, looks like I'm going to have to get her by force." He started his movement again.

The group got into their fighting stances, readying themselves from the monster homing in closer to them.

**These guys are doing everything they can just to protect me…** Erza looked in front of her. Her friends were ready to die there just to protect her. **Thank you.**

Lucy felt a sudden cold drops of water fall down on her hand. "E-Erza?" She turned to her right side, facing the slowly sobbing Erza she held onto.

"I'm sorry Lucy…" Erza wiped away the stream of tears on her right cheek. "I'm sorry I put you all in danger…"

"Don't talk like that Erza." Lucy tried to comfort her friend, sadly her attempt was futile. Her focus was back on Reddrick, who was closing in on their group.

"On my mark, we all attack together from all sides." Christi said silently but loud enough for the rest of the group to hear her.

"You know this seems rather one sided." Reddrick spoke as he walked.

"One…"

"I mean, look at you all!" He continued on.

"Two…"

"You're all worn out and exhausted!" He stopped in the midst of his own tracks, staring down his competition. "You're no match for me!"

"Three!"

"**Lion Brilliance!" **Loke immediately went into his stance and casted his bright light magic, in hopes of at least blinding Reddrick in order for his friends to move freely for a bit. Reddrick put his hand over his eyes, trying to block the magic.

Immediately right after, they disbanded into 3 little groups; Christi and Levy to Reddrick's right, Wendy and Loke to Reddrick's left, and Juvia along with the Exceeds and the 2 other mages stayed, covering his front.

Loke's magic receded, letting Reddrick look at his surroundings once more. "Oh, how intriguing." He looked to his right side, being covered by both Christi and Levy, and then his left, which was covered by Wendy and Loke. His front side only had Juvia to worry about.

"**I am linked to the path to the world of Celestial Spirits, now! O spirit, answer my call and pass through the gate!**" Lucy grabbed one of her golden keys, lifting it above her head and chanting. "**Aquarius!**" Like earlier, her key shined, summoning her celestial right in front of her and Erza, next to Juvia.

"HEY!" Aquarius quickly turned around quickly, already ensuing a fight with her caster. "I WAS ON A DATE WITH SCORPIO!"

"NOWS NOT THE TIME AQUARIUS!" Lucy retorted back at her celestial. Normally, Aquarius would've already responded to her outburst but she noticed something off. Without words, she simply turned back to the opponent, understanding he current situation. "Thank you…" Lucy lowly said.

"So, now it's 8 against 1? Oh how the tide has turned hasn't it?" Reddrick's eyebrow furrowed. He seemed more exited about these turn of events than most would.

"Tch!" Loke grunted at his last comment. Somewhere inside of him, still knew that the current situation is still his favor.

"Loke, don't do anything rash," Wendy advised him. "He's stronger than anyone we've ever faced…"

"I know," Loke said. "But he's so damn arrogant…"

"Hey!" Reddrick called out to both Wendy and Loke, startling the small bluenette out of the both. "Might as well speak up. Anything you say really isn't going to be important." He laughed, piercing them right in their ears.

While he laughed, Christi gave a nod to all the mages, signaling and starting their attack.

"**Exploding Art: Light Grenade!**"  
"**Solid Script: Fire!**"

"**Water Slicer!**"  
"**Water Pillar!**"

"**Regulus Blast!**"  
**"Sky Dragon's Roar!**"

Everyone fired their ranged attacks, combining their magic in hopes of defeating, if not stall, Reddrick. "Pitiful." He only happily grinned and took all of their combination of attacks head on. Before impact, Christi saw his smirk, only giving her chills that ran up and down her spine.

**BOOM!** Another dirty storm appeared before them, engulfing Reddrick. It only lasted a couple of seconds until the menace swooped it all away with one backhand. "That was good," without hesitation, he quickly blitz Juvia out of all them. "Now is my turn!"

Forgetting about her natural ability to become intangible, his punch went straight through her. "**Water Nebula!**" She casted her magic, blowing him back a few feet.

"Shit!" He said, wiping some of the water away. "How did I completely-"

He was suddenly interrupted by the barrage of seemingly strong exploding bubbles. "**Water Bubbles!**" Aquarius said as she casted her magic. Instead of dodging, he simply put his arms around his face, causing him to go back a few more feet with each waking impact.

While defending himself, Wendy quickly went behind the menace, catching him by surprise. "**Sky Dragon's Crushing Claw!**" Her hand was enveloped by wind, quickly slashing his Baker's Cyst on both legs on one swing, causing to him fall to his knees.

"LITTLE GI-"

Interrupted again, this time by the other Bluenette. "**Solid Script: Air!**" She casted at him, causing him to fly and roll as he flew.

Immediately afterwards, Loke ran towards the flying immobilized Reddrick. "**Regulus Gauntling Impact!**" His hands were glowing and rapidly, from left hooks to right, punched Reddrick from his gut to his chest. Reddrick could only stare at the man's action and take his hits.

Loke finally stopped his barrage and right behind him was Christi, about to land the following blow. "**Exploding Art: Mach Punch!**" At Mach 1 speed, she quickly uppercutted him before he fell to the ground with the force of the earlier explosion she caused, sending him continuously flying toward side of the mountain in which he came down from.

"Huh… huh…" A few of them heavily panted.

"It's not over yet!" Reddrick reappeared from not so deep hole on the side of the mountain. He wiped a bloody smirk. "That was pretty good! Just. Not. Good. Enough!"

"This guy is fucking durable!" Loke was shockingly impressed by the amount of damage they've given to the man and he's walked away from.

"My turn…" Reddrick happily smiled.

"Be ready gu-" Just as Christi was advising them, her sentence was cut short when Reddrick seemingly, without much effort, punched her right in the face causing her to fly for a bit until she hit the floor a couple seconds afterwards, knocking her out.

Everybody was in awe. "That's some crazy speed!" Loke sweat dropped. It wasn't until Reddrick turned his attention to him now.

"Your turn," As he was about to do the same thing he just did to Christi, his opponent, Loke, quickly anticipated much and managed to dodge the punch. "Quick fucker aren't you?" He looked over to his right, where Loke had jumped to.

"**Regulus Impact!**" Loke's dominate hand glowed. He launched his devastating punch at the man but was simply stopped when Reddrick blocked and grabbed Loke's fist with utmost ease. "WHAT!?"

"Just not fast enough I supposed." As he held Loke's fist, he quickly grabbed the rest of the arm and flipped Loke, similar to that of Judo technique _**ippon seoi nage**_.

The move did serious damage as Loke impacted the Earth and left a rather small crater. "GAH!" Loke yelled as he felt excruciating pain go up and down his spine.

"LOKE!" Lucy cried toward her spirit. She quickly grabbed her key. "I'M SENDING YOU BACK!"

"DON"T!" Loke pleaded Lucy from sending him back. He got back up but at a slow pace. "Huh…" He panted.

"I underestimated you," Reddrick looked at the hunched Loke in front of him. "So you can take a beating."

"Shut up…" Loke told him off.

"I'm sorry, you wanna run that by me again?" Reddrick was slightly irritated at Loke's last comment.

"I said," Loke picked up his voice. "SHUT UP!"

"Hmpht." Reddrick slowly walked up the spirit, right up until he was being restraint with what seemed like water.

"**Water Pillar!**" Aquarius casted as she held Reddrick in place.

"Nice work," Loke thanked her. He then started his counterattack. "**Regulus Gauntling Impact!**"

His hands glowed once more and his first punch hit Reddrick right in the spot where his kidney was located and quickly continued on hitting him in other vital areas. "Er." Reddrick felt slight pain as he was hit in his vital spots.

Wendy, Levy and Juvia, leaving Aquarius to protect Lucy and Erza by herself, quickly joined in to help Loke in his close quarter combat pursuit. Loke finally stopped his barrage of punches and stepped back a few feet, standing next to both bluenettes.

"**Solid Script: Hole!**" Levy quickly trapped Reddrick's legs into a hole, immobilizing him further.

"**Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!**" Wendy soon followed and attack Reddrick with her strong tides of wind.

Reddrick's hands were still restrained by Aquarius, forcing him to take the attack head on. "…" His eyes were darker, making him angry instead of feel pain.

"**Regulus Impact!**" Loke used his long range attack again, hitting Reddrick right in the chest area.

"**Water Dome!**" Juvia trapped Reddrick in her water like prison.

Reddrick struggled to breathe as he struggled to get out of the earlier traps.

"I can't… hold him for… much longer…" Aquarius continued and tried her best to restraint him.

Knowing that he was losing breathe, Reddrick looked up at the gray cloud covered sky. **Dark Arts: Thunder Strike**. Suddenly, a rather large thunder struck down on the Earth where Reddrick stood, causing a mighty fierce explosion.

The explosion was rather strong and had a big range in which it also managed to hit Loke, Juvia, Wendy and Levy as well, causing them to blow back and knock them out. "LOKE! JUVIA! WENDY! LEVY!" Lucy cried for her friends who were scattered right in front of her, Erza and Aquarius, which knocked everyone but Wendy unconscious. "Wendy! Are you ok?" Lucy asked the small Dragon Slayer. Happy and Carla quickly went to their aid.

"I'm… ok…" She tried to stay conscious.

Carla quickly went to her side while Happy checked up on the others. "Wendy, are you ok?" Carla repeated Lucy's earlier question.

"Yeah…" She lowly said.

"That took care of that," Reddrick walked right out of the smoke, surprising the remaining group, almost unscathed from his own attack. He looked at his 'victim' count. "…eh, 3 out of 4 isn't so bad." He looked back at 3 remaining people still standing; Lucy, Erza and Aquarius.

"Shit…" Lucy said to herself but Erza was still next to her and managed to hear her.

"Lucy… you should go, I'm the one he-"

"No." Lucy interrupted her dear friend.

"Lucy-"

"I said no," Lucy cut her sentence short once more. "I'm not going to give up." She then stood up, leaving Erza by herself kneeling on the floor, and walking towards Aquarius. "I'm not just going to give up and let my friend be taken. I don't care if he's a million times stronger than me, I'm not letting him take you!" She stood next to Aquarius.

"This is one of those times where I agree with you blondie." Aquarius gave Lucy a small but bright smile.

Lucy's words moved Erza, slightly making her tear. "Stubborn…" she wiped her tears away with her hand. "Very well then."

"Glad we had this talk, Erza." Lucy could only give her friend a rather comforting smile, showing sign of having some slight faith.

Reddrick, only a few feet away from them, stared them down. "Hmpht, really?" He let out a small laugh. "You're the only person along with your _mystical _friend there, that's preventing me from grabbing Scarlet!? You really think you're going to be enough to stop me!?"

Lucy, ignoring Reddrick, then looked at her incapacitated friends, primarily Loke. Without words, Loke was sent back to the Spirit World.

"Are you ignoring me, _Blondie_?" His tone turned more threatening than ever. "Or did the cat take your tongue?"

"Which one?" Happy, like a smartass, asked Reddrick.

His question rather prompt everyone to give him a _seriously_ look. "Shut up, Happy." Carla requested.

"Aye!"

"No, the cat didn't take my tongue," Lucy finally responded to Reddrick. "I was actually just waiting for something."

"And that is?" Reddrick asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Look under you." She told him.

Reddrick's eyes widened in shock when she said that to him. He looked down and instantly was back to being restrained by Aquarius once more. "Son of a bitch!"

"How do you like that?" She gave him a grin.

Reddrick flailed around, in hopes of breaking the restraints. "You fucking bitch!" Suddenly, even while he was restrained, he still managed to move little by little, trying to get closer to Lucy.

"You stubborn girl! Move out of the way!" Aquarius can only hold him for a bit.

"I… almost… have… you!" He still struggled to maneuver.

"LUCY!" Erza called out to her. "MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!"

Lucy just stood there, silent and glaring at Reddrick. "I… got… you!" Reddrick raised his arm and enveloped his fist.

"LUCY!" Aquarius, Erza and the Exceeds cried out. Aquarius tried to move towards her but was more focused on holding the menace back. If she lost her concentration, Lucy would've already been dead-meat.

"Night, night." With all his strength, he manage to break free from his restraint that was on his arm and swung.

Everybody could only watch and fear, until suddenly, a tall gray skinned long haired man stood in front of Lucy, tanking the hit. "Gihi."

"What the?" Reddrick seemingly struck what seemed to be the man's skin, but why did it feel like metal, he wondered. Suddenly, his restraints were frozen solid. "What in the hell!?"

"**Ice Make: Freeze!**" A stripped man said, seemingly being the source of freezing the water.

"Gray? Gajeel?" Both Exceeds were happy to see their friends' faces.

"Yo!" Pantherlily quickly joined the other Exceeds.

"Goddamn, what the hell happened here?" Terry exclaimed at the scenery. Rocks were popping out from the ground and there was also a huge crater right in the middle of the battlefield. He then saw Christi, his fellow partner, unconscious and just a few feet away from Erza. "Christi!" He quickly went to her side.

"Lucy," Natsu appeared as well, going up to his friend. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah…" Lucy seemed to be exhausted.

"Erza!" He quickly went to her aid as well, taking Lucy with him

"Thank god," Aquarius finally stopped her focus. "You guys came right on time."

"Yeah," Gray said. "We would've been here sooner but huge dog made us waste some time." He then saw both Juvia and Levy on the floor and went towards them.

"They're ok." Happy told Gray as he approached them.

"Thank you." Gray sighed in relief.

"Erza, can you move again?" Natsu asked her, kneeling next to her and inspecting her.

"No," Erza responded. "Reddrick did something to my legs before you saved me, I can't seem to move them."

"That bastard." Natsu looked over at Reddrick, being frozen in place.

"I only punched and kicked her very hard in the legs!" Reddrick yelled out toward Natsu. His yelling though startled everyone. "She might have a few broken and misplaced bones in her legs, hence why she can't stand or move!" He then laughed maniacally.

"You fucking bastard!" Natsu quickly stood up. His hands were covered in fire already.

"Christi, are you ok?" Terry tried to wake her up while the commotion occurred.

"Ugh… is that you Terry?" She was slowly coming back to her senses.

"Oh good," Terry was at ease for a bit. "I thought you were a goner."

"No, he only hit me very hard in the head with a sucker punch…" She slowly got up with one hand while the other held on to her head.

"You all should focus on me instead of your injured!" Reddrick yelled out once more.

"Well I and Iron Head over there are already focused on you!" Natsu told Reddrick.

"All of you should be focused on me…" Reddrick lowly said. Suddenly, a black mystical aura surrounded him.

"What the!?" Gajeel stepped back a few feet away from him.

Reddrick finally broke free from his ice restraints. "The party has only just begun."

**Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Don't forget to leave a review, your criticism and support is valued by me.**


	11. Chapter 11: And His Name Was

**Author's Note: Again, I deeply apologize for these late updates, thanks a bunch for those who waited patiently. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

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Reddrick's dark aura surrounding him disappeared, leaving only his evil smirk on his face. "Which one of you shall get it first?" He chuckled about as he picked his next opponent.

"Tch!" Regardless of his choosing, reckless as always, Natsu charged at him with fire already lit around his right fist. "**Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!**"

Without much effort, Reddrick caught the punch mid-air near his face with his right arm. "Pfft, pitiful."

Natsu continued his attack with his other fist, engulfed with fire once more. "Hiya!"

Again, he grabbed his other fist with his left hand, this time near his chest. "If the first one didn't work, what makes you think the other might?" He asked.

Having used both his hands to block both punches, Gajeel used this opportunity to attack. "**Iron Dragon's Sword!**" He launched at him.

Tightening his grip around Natsu's hands, Reddrick simply countered by throwing the pinkette at the Iron Dragon Slayer. "Eat this!" He said as both Natsu and Gajeel crashed each other's body.

With the distraction of both Dragon Slayers, Gray entered the battle. "**Ice Make: Ice Bringer!**" He dual-wielded both small swords and swung at Reddrick from left to right.

"You're just gonna keep swinging those sharp things at me?" As swift as Gray was, Reddrick was almost able to sidestep, duck and dodge his sword attacks.

"You're getting on my nerves!" He continued with his barrage of swings, even if none manage to hit his target.

Both Natsu and Gajeel quickly joined on the attack, the Fire Dragon slayer took Reddrick's right while the Iron Dragon Slayer took his left.

"**Crimson Lotus: Fire Dragon's Fist!**" Like in their first encounter, both Natsu's fists were engulfed with fire and started his barrage of punches.

"**Iron Dragon's Scales!"** Gajeel coated his body with iron once more. "**Iron Dragon's Hard Fist!**" He followed with a barrage of his own punches.

"Three on one, eh?" Even with all three combined, Reddrick continued to dodge their combined attacks. "Seems hardly fair doesn't it?"

"You handled the others by yourself," Natsu retorted back at him. "Didn't think it would take the three of us just to put you in a tight spot."

"Shut up and keep attacking!" Gray told him.

Even after several minutes of evading and dodging their attacks, neither side was giving up. "Fuck this." Reddrick jumped off the floor, spinning his body and punching both Natsu and Gray and kicking Gajeel, all in the same area in the chest, knocking them back.

"This guy is fucking quick," Natsu said, wiping a bit of saliva that dripped from his mouth. "Any other good plans?"

"This wasn't even a plan, fire-brain," Gray said, getting up from the dirt. "You just charged right at him!"

"At least it was better than nothing, Ice Princess!" Natsu butted heads with Gray as usual.

"Are… they serious?" Reddrick sweat-dropped at the current situation between the stripped Ice user and the dimwit Fire Dragon Slayer. "HELLO!? BIG BADDIE STANDING OVER HERE!" Reddrick tried to get their attention.

"Over here!" Gajeel started the offense once more. "**Iron Dragon's Club!**" Gajeel's right arm extended, hitting him with a ranged attack.

Just as Reddrick was able to react, water like chains from before held him from moving. "What the-?"

"**Water Pillar!**" Aquarius, still in the battlefield, used her magic once more to chain him up and immobilized him. Although, Lucy was almost drained from her magic and continue to rapidly go down with the use of Aquarius still summoned.

Even with the chains though, Reddrick was still able to move his arms, quickly grabbing the Iron Dragon Slayer's attack. "Don't think we're out of the game yet!"

Natsu and Gray seemed to have stopped their bickering and continued on with the battle against Reddrick. "**Fire Dragon's Roar/ Ice Make: Ice Cannon!**" Both Natsu and Gray fired their long ranged attacks as well.

"Agh!" Reddrick broke free from the chains due it becoming weaker and quickly swung around Gajeel like a bat. "Eat this instead!" He blurted out as he used the Iron Dragon Slayer as a weapon, swinging it and hitting both mages and cutting their magic work short.

Although, Terry wasn't fighting alongside the three other mages, he could see that even at their best, they couldn't do much against Reddrick. Sweat came down his forehead, nervously looking at the fight while being concerned at his own bag. "Hey Christi…" He exhaled out loudly, before reaching into his bag.

"W-What are you doing?" Her breathing was excessively

"I'm going to need you to hold this…" He held a small thing in the middle of his fist, giving it to her in her palms to hold on to.

"It's not what I think it is, is it?" She couldn't extend her arm towards her face to see what the man had given her. After the punch Reddrick gave her to her stomach, the damage done to her was far exceeding that of broken ribs; the force of the punch managed to dislocate some of her bones in her spinal cord and had done some significant damage to some of her major arteries, hence her heavy breathing. "T-Terry!?"

"No time to talk!" He got up from his seated position next to her and continued on with what he had planned.

"Hey Terry," Natsu called out to the healing mage just as he and his two other Guild-mates got back up from hitting the floor. "You can butt in any time now, ya know!"

"I'm trying to heal your friends, give me a minute here!" Terry walked towards Erza now after tending towards Christi. "Here, hold on to this." He reached into his bag and grabbed a charm of some sort, handing it over to the scarlet haired woman.

"What's this for?" She looked at it closely; the charm resembled a seashell.

"Just hold on to it," he walked towards Lucy now. "Here." He took out another seashell charm, giving it to the blonde.

Unlike Erza, Lucy held the charm in the palm of her hand. "I'm running out magic here…" She tried her best to continue to summon Aquarius.

"Stubborn girl…" Aquarius commented on her willpower.

As the battle continued between the two dragon slayers, the ice mage and the menace, Terry continued to put the seashell charm on the palm of everyone's hands, including the unconscious Juvia, Levy and the small air dragon slayer, Wendy. "Here you go… and here…" And then his attention was faced towards the trio of Exceeds. "And why aren't you helping them?" He asked the dark Exceed.

"I ran out of magic, I can't transform into my big form." Pantherlily explained his situation.

"What about you two?" He said as one of Natsu's fiery explosions was heard in the background. "Can't you transform like him?"

"Nope." Happy answered.

"For a bunch of cats, I thought most of you would be useful in this kind of situation…" Terry sweat dropped. "Anyways, take this then." He gave Pantherlily the last charm in his bag.

"Exactly what is this for?" The three Exceeds somewhat huddled up together and asked the Mage.

Terry turned back to look at how their battle was going. Natsu and Gajeel continued to press on with their melee attacks while Gray switched to ranged attacks with an ice bow and arrows. "No time for idle chat!"

The mage quickly took his place in front of the injured pack, sat down in a meditation form and placed his palms together under his face. With this, the charms began to glow as he did so as well. "Whatever you're doing Terry, do it now!" Natsu said, as he gets thrown on to the floor.

"**Forbidden Healing Arts**…" He calmly breathes in and out.

"What is he-" Reddrick's sentence was cut short with a punch from the Fire Dragon Slayer to his mouth.

**This spell is going to kill me…** Terry closed his eyes and thought to himself. **But in return, it should give these people their magic back and heal all of their wounds…** His thoughts wandered off to his early years and that off Christi. **Christi… We had a good run, eh? **He smiled as he continued to meditate. **I never got to tell you how I felt about you? Ha-ha, you probably already knew…** He opened his eyes and saw Christi once more, laying on the floor. Even with the damage given to her, she managed to turn her head towards Terry's direction. **That I loved you…**

He continued his calm state as did the others to distract Reddrick. "… **RESTORATION ENSHROUDMENT!**" His body and the charms shrouded him and the others holding the charms in vibrating yellow color.

Erza felt her magic coming back to her, as did Lucy. Not only was their magic being restores but their scratches, bruises and other physical abuse disappeared, even fixing cracked and misplaced bones along with other internal damage anyone has received, healing them completely. "Whoa…" Erza looked at her right fist were the she placed her shell, surprised at the properties it was giving her.

"He's healing all of them!?" Reddrick looked at them. He could see what the boy was doing to them. His gaze was suddenly cut short when, again, the fiery pinkette punched him in the jaw once more, this time knocking him back a few feet.

The glowing stopped, finally done with healing all of them. "I… did it…" From his synched breathing to heavy panting, Terry stopped meditating. His magic was rapidly fading, causing him to fall back to the floor.

"Terry!" Christi quickly got up from her laid position and took her partner's side as he did with her. "Terry! Why would you use that spell!?"

"I… I healed everyone…" He tried to keep himself awake.

"T-Terry…" She could see his youthful appearance turn to that of an old one. A small tear escaped her eye, streaming down her left cheek.

His once physical prime became that of an old frail body, his hair swiftly turns from dark brown to that of gray. The mere moments that passed were the last few moments of his life. "I… It's okay…" His voice was wither.

"How is this okay!?" More tears escaped her eyes, streaming down both down her cheeks.

"**Fire Dragon's Roar!**"  
"**Iron Dragon's Roar!**"  
"**Ice Make: Ice Cannon!**"

The three synchronized their attacks combining their elements together to bring a ferocious explosion, hitting Reddrick right on target, and like Christi's explosion from earlier, the dust and dirt in the air was centered once again near the mountainside. "Did we get him?" Natsu panted, putting more of his magic into that attack than any of his earlier ones.

"I don't know…" Gray panted as well, exhausted at taking a heavy beating from Reddrick.

"He did survive that one explosion earlier…" Gajeel remarked, panting in the same manner as them.

"Because…" Struggling to keep his magic up, Terry's body continued to become weak. "I… know you can defeat… him…" He could feel the tears come down in his chest. "I… believe you can…"

"T-Terry?" Christi could see his body glow once more.

"The spell is taking… its toll on me…" His magic finally drained out. "Goodbye… Christi…"

His body dispersed itself from her hands, leaving her with magical matter of his once dense body.

Like a soldier who heard a loud explosive ringing in his ear, Christi's loud cries were inaudible to her. Birds flew from out of trees, other animals scavenging for food stopped and turned to look at the direction the cries came from, and the other mages surrounding her could only stare, feeling the pain going through their ears and going up and down their spines like goosebumps.

An everlasting cry echoed through the trees in the forest they were in, even making its way towards Saturn Town.

Her cries turned to sobbing. "You… idiot…" She muttered underneath her breath.

"Are you going to be okay?" Christi didn't realize that Erza had stood right in front of her.

"Y-Yeah." Christi got up from her knelt position, wiping away the remaining tears that streamed down her cheeks.

"Aquarius, you're dismissed." Lucy sent her celestial spirit back to the spirit world and, along with the Exceeds and the three bluenettes, headed and regrouped with the other girls.

"Yo!" The three male mages were the first to regroup back with their guild mates and the mage freelancer/

"So, everyone is healed up?" Gray asked, observing the girl's wounds that were once there.

"Juvia feels that way." Juvia, referring to herself in third person as always, was the first to respond to the Ice mage.

"Yeah, my magic was almost all up before…" Lucy didn't really want to explain the events that just happened.

"It's okay, you can say it." Although, Christi's voice didn't want to hear it, her words meant another.

"Before Terry healed us all." Lucy finished her sentence after receiving the go.

"Tch, it didn't heal us," Gajeel said, crossing his arms across his chest. "Yo, shrimp, how about you cast me and Salamander a power-up?"

"Do I look like a vending machine to you?" Levy asked the big brute.

"If you were, I'd eat you out by now." Gajeel remarked.

"That sounded like a bad sexual innuendo." Happy clarified.

"Do you always have to think like that Happy?" Even though she was at a small age, Wendy knew what the small blue cat was talking about.

"You don't have to listen to the idiot, Wendy." Carla clarified to the small girl.

"We shouldn't be acting so carefree right now." Erza remarked at the current situation.

"Maybe you should _requip_ back to your usual outfit." Lucy told her.

Erza looked down at her attire, not realizing that she still had Natsu's vest like jacket. "Oh, right." She took off the vest, revealing her naked body, making everyone rather nervous. "**Requip!**" She changed back to her standard steel-plated armor, while holding Natsu's vest with her right arm. "Thanks for… the vest."

"Y-Yeah, no problem." Natsu scratched his head, grabbing his jacket.

"Why you so flustered, Natsu?" Happy began to tease the pinkette.

"Flustered?" Natsu didn't know the meaning of that word, I mean, Igneel didn't really teach him all the words from a dictionary. "What are you on about?"

"The majority of us know why you wanted to find Titania, Salamander." Gajeel added, hoping the hints were rather cleared up a bit.

"Oh," Natsu now realized what his blue furry companion meant by that. "Ooooh."

"Hmm? What are you guys talking about?" Erza felt sort of left out.

"Nothing," Natsu's rather feign laugh didn't convince Erza to drop the conversation. "Nothing that really concerns you."

"_Sure._" His guild mates' sarcasm wasn't helping much either.

"He liiiikkkkeeee-" Natsu put his hand over Happy's mouth, stopping him from saying anything else towards the scarlet haired mage.

"Like I said," Natsu continued to put his hand over Happy's mouth. "Nothing."

"R-Right…" Erza didn't want to take it too far into the conversation.

"And I thought Salamander was the dense one…" Christi lowly said to herself.

"We're still not done here," Natsu advised them, staring back at the huge smoke that was concentrated near the mountainside. "The bastard is still kicking over there." He turned back to look at them. "And since everyone is healed, including Erza, that means we outnumber him now."

"Right." All of them agreed to that.

"You know," Reddrick, with the use of both his hands, blew away the smoke around him. "That conversation was rather filled with lots of details." He walked out of the crater that was made with the combination of Natsu's, Gajeel's and Gray's magic. "It'd be a shame if somebody used it against you."

"Do you have like some type of delayed onset awareness or something?" Natsu asked. "It did take you a long time to get out of there."

"D-Did I not just say what I was doing?" Reddrick questioned whether his words literally went through on ear and escaped through the other with the pinkette.

"He's like that sometimes." Gray prepared his next casting.

"Oh ok," Reddrick then saw Titania back at full strength. "Oh, looks like the great Titania is back on her feet now, is it? How delightful."

"We're not going to go down any time soon, Reddrick!" She retorted back at the menace.

"Let's see," Reddrick took note that he was outnumbered. "You have three dragon slayers, a girl with heavy explosive magic, another girl with some freaky type of water magic, an ice mage with a weird stripping habit, a girl with magical fucking keys, another girl who can make words appear out of thin air, three talking cats and one of them can transform to a bigger one, and then there's you, Titania." He had no more fingers to count with. "Seems rather fair don't you?"

"**I am linked to the path to the world of Celestial Spirits, now! O spirit, answer my call and pass through the gate!**" Lucy grabbed one of her golden keys, summoning one of her celestial spirits once more to aid them. "**Taurus!**"

"Oh, well would you look at that, now there's more of you than I can count…" Reddrick facepalmed.

"Well you're missing one more!" Natsu clarified.

"And who might that be!?" Reddrick asked.

"His name was Terry," Natsu said, while taking an offensive position like the rest of his friends. "And he's pretty pissed!"

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**Author's Note: Well, hope you like this chapter. Thanks for waiting patiently. Also, if you haven't checked up on it yet, my other story, **_**At the End of the Tunnel (which is also a Natza/Nerza fanfic) **_**has a new chapter, in case you've missed it. Also, **_**Everything's Fine, Right? **_**Is another Natza/Nerza story, so if you want, you can check that up too. I'll be uploading more after Christmas so yeah, Happy Holidays. Bye now.**


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